Just Another Teenage Love Story
by rejoicingrequiem
Summary: In this modern day Naruto story, college bound Arista travels to Japan to study violin and live with her aunt. What she doesn't know is that her new school is filled with ninja. But what she doesn't know won't hurt her...right? ShikaxOC
1. Chapter 1

[Author's Note] I'm bored and thought I'd try to pick this back up again, starting from the top and editing things as I go. I'll try to update fairly regularly, but no promises. _

Eight hours.

I glanced at my watch. I take that back, I lied. It's only been seven and a half hours.

Seven and a half hours of pure torture, trapped in this stupid flying sardine can with nothing to do. My arse was pretty much numb from sitting still for so long and I don't think I could stretch my legs out straight right now if I tried.

I had finished the only book I had thought to throw into my backpack in the airport. Thank you three hour wait to board the plane.

For the record, that was sarcasm.

The battery power in my pink DS light had gone out in the middle of a boss fight in the new Zelda game. I had been winning, too. I swear; someone out there just likes to see me suffer.

The in-flight movie, good though it had been, had ended a mere three hours into the flight, leaving me with nothing but puffy, uninterestingly shaped clouds to stare at through the small window. I really don't see how anyone can make a habit out of watching the clouds roll by. What a waste of time.

By far the worst disaster that had occurred so far, however, was that I had forgotten to charge my i-Pod. Nothing I've already mentioned can even **begin** to compare to this. My music is my life, and without it…well…let's just say I was less than pleased with this trip so far.

I heaved a sigh, rubbing my tired eyes beneath my blue and white rimmed glasses. _I hope this isn't an indication of how things will be once we get there._

"Cheer up, Ritz," my aunt said from her seat beside me. "It'll be worth it once we get there. It's not like a chance like this pops up every day."

"I guess you're right, Aunt Angie," I mumbled, still staring out the window.

She nodded, apparently satisfied with my response, before burying her nose back into the book she had been reading; **my** book to be exact.

I suppose she really was right, though. No matter how tedious this plane ride was, this was the chance of a lifetime for me. I mean seriously, how often does some 18 year old, fresh out of high school, get invited to study with one of the best violinists in the world?

Never. Never ever **ever**. Until now, that is.

Maybe now would be a good time to explain why I'm willing to suffer through an eight hour plane ride to Japan.

I'm a musician, and a fairly decent one at that. Not that I'm bragging mind you. I always told everyone that I'd end up teaching music somewhere, but honestly, I couldn't live my entire life doing that. My passion lies in performance, even though sometimes my nerves don't seem to agree with me on that.

As for my instrument, I play the violin. It's currently stowed in my overhead bin, safe and snug in its black case. If anything were to happen to my violin, I'd seriously break down and cry.

But, back to the story.

Hakase Taro, one of my favorite violinists in the whole wide world, had invited me to study with him. How cool is that! So that's why I'm heading to Japan; to pursue my dream of being a world renowned performer.

My Aunt Angie, who just so happens to have lived in Japan before, agreed to let me live with her while I'm there. She used to live on the Okinawa military base, being a Navy dentist and all, but didn't think that it was best for me to stay there as well. So she bought a house about halfway between the base and my new school.

There's something I haven't mentioned yet. My new school.

Unbeknownst to me, my parents and my aunt had enrolled me in some supposedly elite college in Japan. **Great**. Of course, no one had bothered to inform me of this until I was already on my way to the airport. Figures. Less chance of me getting out of it that way. But get this; I have to wear a uniform!

I thought all of that had ended when I graduated in June. But no, right when I had finally thought that I was done with preppy school uniforms, stuck up snobs, and classes in general, I just get thrust right back into it. My high school had been a private school too. Sure, I learned a lot more than most of my friends in public schools did and I had a few friends, but I really had no desire to repeat the experience.

My new school was called Konoha Academy or something like that. See? The name even sounds preppy! It's a college for the highly gifted; at least that's what my aunt told me. AKA, I'm going to be surrounded by kids with pocket protectors, taped glasses, and shiny new calculators. I was sure to stick out like a sore thumb.

Now don't get me wrong here, I'm far from stupid. Quite the contrary. I graduated as valedictorian of my class and was recognized on a national level for my standardized test scores. Impressive, no? But like I said before, I'm not here to brag…much.

*Ping*

The seatbelt sign lit up, causing me to grin and forget about my frustrations for the time being. _Finally, just a few more minutes. Ready or not, Japan, here comes Arista Burana!_

"Aunt Angie?" I asked, warily eying our rather large pile of luggage, "How exactly are we getting all of this to the house? We don't have a car, remember?"

"Our neighbors are coming to get us," she responded, obviously happy with the fact that she had thought of this and that our new neighbors had actually agreed to it.

"Do you actually know our neighbors?" I asked, fearing that my somewhat pushy aunt had just imposed upon their goodwill.

"Of course I do! I met Shikaku at work a few years ago. Actually, his wife was the one who told me about the house being for sale."

_Shikaku?_

If there's one thing that's going to take getting used to, it's Japanese names.

As if on cue, a large van pulled up in front of us. I'm guessing they rented it just to come pick us up.

"Shikaku, Yoshino!" my aunt greeted, embracing a man with spiky black hair and a scarred face and a pleasant looking woman who had dark brown hair.

"My goodness!" my aunt exclaimed, "Shikamaru has certainly grown since I've last seen him!"

I can only assume that she was talking about the guy who had just gotten out of the van. He had spiky dark brown hair pulled up into a ponytail much like his dad's and a rather lazy look about him.

He really didn't look like the kind of guy that I would hang out with. Not that I'm prejudiced or anything, but any guy with two earrings and a ponytail just doesn't appeal to me. But then, you can't judge a book by its cover.

"Shikamaru!" his mother yelled, her face contorting, "Don't just stand there! Get their bags!"

Whoah. One minute she was all friendly and huggy and the next she was barking orders like a general. Scary much?

He started loading the luggage into the back of the van, carelessly tossing suitcases and boxes helter-skelter. "Leave it to a woman to pack so much," he grumbled, picking up my violin, which I had left sitting atop the pile of luggage.

"Please be careful with that!" I cried, hurrying over and reaching for it before he could lob it unceremoniously into the back of the van.

He turned to face me, an annoyed expression on his face.

I was wrong. You can judge a book by its cover. He hasn't even said a word to me and I dislike him already.

"Was it really necessary to pack so many clothes?" he asked, preparing to lob my violin once again.

"That's not clothes!" I practically screamed. I did tell you that I loved my instrument dearly, right? "It's my instrument and it's very fragile!"

"What a drag," he muttered, handing the black case to me before heading for the rest of the luggage.

Once the rest of the luggage had been loaded, with my ever so useful packing tips of course, we all piled into the van and headed towards our new home, wherever that might be, with my violin sitting safely on my lap.

It was a pretty boring trip to say the least. And to think I had said the plane ride was bad! My aunt kept up a running conversation with the Naras, leaving me with Shika…Shika…What was his name again? Oh well, it doesn't matter. It's not like he's going to talk to me anyway and after this I don't have to have any contact with him.

The fact that it was majorly stifling in the van didn't help either. I reached up, pulled the beanie off my head and ran a hand through my messy hair.

"Your hair."

It was that Shika guy. So apparently he is capable of speech.

"What about it?" I asked, turning to face him.

"It's blue."

My aunt's head whipped around in surprise. "When did you do that?" she asked, eyes widening as she noticed the light blue streak running through my bangs.

"Last night," I replied with an innocent grin.

I've always wanted to do something different with my hair, but my mom wouldn't let me. So I figured this would be the best time to try it out. You dig? Mind you, it's not like I dyed my whole head neon blue or something. Nothing like that at all. It's just one small, light blue streak running through my chocolaty-brown bangs. Personally, I thought it looked cute.

I guess my aunt didn't, though, because she just turned back around with a sigh and small shake of her head.

Shikaku stopped the large van in front of a roomy looking house with a small garden out front and a decent sized back yard with a small pond in it. It looked like a pretty nice place to live actually. Not the home I was accustomed to, but hey, I can adapt.

"Now, Arista," my aunt said, turning around once more, "you can leave the unpacking to us."

"That's right," Yoshino chimed in. "We'll take care of dinner as well. Shikamaru is going to show you around town for a bit."

This was news to me, and not very pleasing news as I wanted a nap, but I took it with a smile. Apparently, it was news to Shikamaru as well, at least judging from the combination of shock and disgruntlement showing on his face.

"But mom," he began, trying to get out of it.

"No buts, mister!" Yoshino shouted, once more assuming the role of a general, causing us both to jump in our seats. "She's new here and you're going to show her around!"

"Man, what a drag," he mumbled, rubbing his temples as he jumped out of the van.

I followed suit, albeit far more daintily then he did.

"Are you really going to go out like that?" he asked me, once both his parents and my aunt had disappeared inside our new house.

I blinked in confusion and looked down at my clothes. They looked perfectly fine for walking around town to me. My favorite faded and ripped jeans paired with a tight blue zip-up sweatshirt and an old Mickey Mouse tee-shirt.

"Don't you think you should change too then?" I asked, trying to keep my voice sweet and innocent.

Sure, it's not like my clothes were at the height of fashion, but they were comfy and suited me. Plus, it looked better than what he was wearing. Honestly, he looked like a bit of a punk. His black, skull-emblazoned tee-shirt paired with a red and black plaid jacket and baggy jeans just kind of gave off that kind of vibe.

"Whatever," he said, turning and walking in the direction I could only assume lead to the town proper.

Doesn't this sound like it's going to be ever so much fun?

…

Yeah, I didn't think so either.


	2. Chapter 2

"What a drag," Shikamaru sighed, dragging his feet as we walked slowly into town.

Did I mention how **very** slowly we were going? Heck, a snail could outstrip us right now.

"Oh quit complaining!" I said as I pulled my hair into two buns and pulled my beanie back on, eager to see my new hometown and hopefully meet some new people as well.

"Well it's not like getting saddled with an annoying kid like you was on my list of things to do today."

He did **not** just call me a kid, and an annoying one at that! I absolutely hate being called a kid.

"I'm not a kid!" I said, stamping my foot rather childishly angrily. "And how can you say I'm annoying when you just met me!"

"You sure look like a kid to me," he said with an annoying smirk, obviously knowing that he had hit a nerve. "What are you, twelve?"

"I'm eighteen!"

He just rolled his eyes and began walking again, leaving me to catch up to him.

"And I'll have you know," I said, not dropping the topic, "that I'll be attending one of the best schools around starting in September! Konoha Academy," I said, puffing my chest out proudly.

That stopped him in his tracks. "You're going to **my** school?" he asked incredulously.

That one word caused the triumphant look to evaporate from my face. He has got to be kidding me. That's it. He's just kidding, trying to jerk my chain. There's no way that someone like him can go to such a supposedly elite school! He's just so…so…I don't know! I have no possible way of describing him!

He turned his head to look at me while we were walking, almost as if he were reevaluating me or something.

"Dude, are you checking me out or something?" I finally asked with a wicked smirk on my face.

"What? No!" he blushed. "I'm just trying to figure out how you got into the Academy, that's all."

There he goes again. It's like he's trying to tick me off or something! Just because I don't look like some kind of super nerd doesn't mean I'm stupid. But I'm not gonna bite. No siree. Because that would just encourage him even more.

"So how do you figure I'm annoying?" I asked, changing the subject.

"It's just a rule of thumb," he said, shoving his hands into his pockets. "All women are annoying and troublesome."

I mulled over this as I paid for an ice cream cone. Black raspberry, my favorite! I smirked as a question popped into my head.

"So," I began, taking a lick of the dark purple ice cream, "if you don't like girls does that mean you're gay? Because if you are that's a-okay by me. I was just wondering; that's all." I hid my devilish grin by taking another lick from my ice cream cone.

"W-what!" he spluttered, at a complete loss for words thanks to my out of the blue question.

I just giggled and quickened my pace, leaving him standing there with a dumbstruck look on his face while I continued to explore my new town.

I tossed my napkin and ice cream cone away once all of the actual ice cream was gone. I never was a fan of ice cream cones. Unless they were waffle cones that is.

My stomach growled and I checked my watch, thinking it should be about lunchtime. Then I mentally slapped myself. I had never adjusted my watch to the new time zone. In any event, I was hungry.

A sign proclaiming Ichiraku Ramen Bar caught my eye. Ramen definitely sounded like it would hit the spot.

It looked quaint, just the kind of thing you'd expect to see in a small Japanese town like this. I slipped in through the curtain and took a seat at the bar a few spaces away from a group of three boys who looked about my age.

They were joking around and seemed to be having a pretty good time. Well, at least two of them were. The third was just sitting there, staring at the wall. One had spiky blonde hair and what looked like whiskers on his cheeks. I'm not even going to ask why he had whiskers. The other had messy brown hair and two red tattoos running down his cheeks. Why in the world he would want tattoos like that on his cheeks is beyond me, but hey, whatever floats your boat. The third one didn't really seem quite as friendly. He had jet black hair and brooding air about him. Although, he was kind of cute terribly emo.

The brunette turned his head and caught me staring, sending a wink my way before turning back to his companions.

I blushed. A lot. I don't think a guy's ever winked at me before. Ever.

"Kiba," said the black-haired boy in an annoyed tone, addressing the brunette, "must you flirt with every girl you see?"

"Not **every** one," Kiba replied, turning to me again. "Just the cute ones."

The black-haired boy just snorted. "Whatever you say, Kiba."

My, what a happy, upbeat, chipper person he is. Not! Grumpy much?

"You know," the blondie said, speaking for the first time, "I don't think I've seen you before. Are you new?"

I nodded.

For the record, I'm really shy around new people. Excluding that stupid Shikamaru. He just gets to me far too much for me to be shy.

"Well then we should introduce ourselves!" the blondie exclaimed, seeming to have even more energy than he had before. "My name's Naruto! Dattebayo!" he practically screamed, grinning widely.

His grin kind of reminded me of a Cheshire cat's. O so cute, but so very very mischievous.

"Kiba," the brunette said, taking my hand and kissing it lightly.

There went my cheeks again. Darn them!

I turned my eyes to the guy with the raven hair, trying to force the pink in my cheeks to disappear.

"Sasuke," he muttered, not even sparing me so much as a glance as he stared at the wall, hands folded in front of him.

Not much of a talker I see. How pleasant.

Kiba and Naruto were still looking at me expectantly. _Did I forget something?_

"Oh that's right!" I laughed, "I didn't tell you my name yet! It's-"

"Arista, there you are."

Everyone's eyes, including mine, turned to the stall's entrance, only to see Shikamaru standing there. What a way to ruin my fun.

"Do you have any idea how long I've been looking for you? I knew watching you was going to be troublesome."

"Whoah, wait a minute," Naruto said, looking from me to Shikamaru and then back again. "Were you two on a date?!"

"What?!" we both roared.

"Me? On a date with an annoying kid like her? No way, Naruto! My mom forced me to show her around town! That's it."

He looked like he could have had a heart attack right then. Of course, it would have served him right. Punishment for calling me an annoying kid.

Naruto's eyes turned to me.

"I'd rather dye every single hair on my head pink than date that jerk," I said with a huff, turning my head away from Shikamaru.

Actually, I'd rather do pretty much **anything** than dye my hair pink. Pink hair? Absolutely disgusting. The guys all seemed to find my comment funny, though, even the seemingly stoic Sasuke. I didn't really think it was all that humorous, but hey, to each his own.

"Come on," Shikamaru said, heading back towards the street. "If we aren't home in time for dinner my mom will kill us."

"Aha!" Naruto exclaimed.

Is it just me or does this kid need to turn his volume setting down a bit?

"So you two **are** on a date!"

We both grimaced again, as did Kiba.

"She's my neighbor, baka," Shikamaru said irritably, causing my face to scrunch up in confusion and Kiba's to loosen. "And right now, I have to take her back home."

"Baka?" I asked, once we had left the ramen bar.

"Idiot," Shikamaru said dryly.

"I am not!" I immediately yelled. "Just because I-"

"Baka means idiot," he explained, cutting me off before I could launch into a full scale rant.

"Oh."

You know, I really should have learned Japanese before coming to live here.

"So," I said, trying to break the silence, "are those three friends of yours?"

"I guess," he replied. "Kiba and Naruto are alright. I don't really care for Sasuke that much, though. Nor do I see why all the girls fall all over him. But all of the guys tend to hang out together at school, so I guess you could say that we're all friends to some extent."

Will wonders never cease?

"School? As in the Academy? They all go there too?"

He nodded. "Same year as us."

Here I had been expecting a school filled with geeky guys who would rather ogle the newest calculator model than a girl. It was turning out to be just the opposite however. I'm beginning to think maybe school won't be that bad after all.

It wasn't until my stomach started growling again that I realized that I had never gotten around to ordering my ramen.


	3. Chapter 3

Music is probably the only thing that I feel is worth waking up early for.

Take today for example.

I got out of bed around 5 am, well before my aunt had to leave for work, and made breakfast out of the goodness of my heart, despite the fact that I'm not a morning person.

…

Ok, not really. Turns out I forgot to reset my alarm clock and it was still set for my old time zone. It went off around 1 am, effectively driving the sleepiness out of me. I need to remember to fix that before I go to bed tonight, come to think of it.

But back to my music. My aunt, after having been woken up by my playing, exiled me to the garage to practice. Of course, that meant that if my aunt wasn't home while I was out there, there wasn't anyone in the house to answer the door or the phone. But honestly, who's going to call?

I've been out here in the garage since 6:30, and honestly, I have no idea what time it currently is. Not that I really care, either. I had nothing else to do, so time was of no importance. Today was all about comfort and practicing, which I was in desperate need of after that ridiculous plane ride.

I picked up my polished violin and let the bow take over on autopilot.

{Shikamaru's POV}

Why is that I always get stuck doing all the troublesome jobs?

First I had to help with the luggage, which, granted, wasn't that bad. But still, I could have been home sleeping or watching the clouds. But then I had to show that troublesome girl around town. She irks me. I find it really hard to believe that someone like her got into the Academy. That's just going to make school even more of a drag than it already is.

Yet here I stand, staring at her front door, steeling myself to knock on it.

I could have gotten a few more hours of sleep in, but no, the new girl had to go and be a pain **again**.

Her aunt had called the house a little while ago in a panic, her frantic voice audible from the phone in my mom's hand.

Apparently Arista's mom had been trying to call her on her cell phone for the past hour, but she hadn't picked up. Her mom had then called her aunt in a panic, who then called **my** mom in a panic. My mom had then found it necessary to send me next door to check up on Arista and see if everything was alright.

So you see, it all stems back to troublesome women.

*Knock, knock, knock*

No answer.

I tried the door, which happened to be unlocked, and let myself in. I didn't see Arista anywhere, but I could definitely hear her phone, the muffled ring tone drifting down from upstairs.

I walked up the stairs and braced myself before opening the door to what I could only assume was her bedroom. It wasn't as bad as I would have thought, actually. I had expected it to be really girly, but it wasn't. Her bed, covered with teal sheets, was pushed against the wall closest to the window and a small table sat next to it. A small TV was situated on the wall across from her bed.

I stopped to look at the huge bookshelf that dominated a full half of the wall at the base of her bed along with a large closet and mirror.

I peered at the half-full bookshelf. _Probably all stupid romance novels_.

Her choice of books surprised me, however. The wooden shelf was full of mysteries and thrillers from the champions of the genre. You name a well-known mystery author and his name was probably on that shelf somewhere.

A small book sitting open on her bed caught my eye as well, but before I could take a look at it her phone started blaring again from atop her bedside table.

What an odd ring tone. Rather than your usual generic ring or blaring rock music, her phone emitted a moving orchestral score. _It's starting to get really annoying…maybe I should just answer it._

"Hello?" I answered, picking up and flipping open the small phone.

"Oh Ritz, thank God!" said a woman's voice, her relief at her call having finally been answered evident from her tone. "I was beginning to think that something had happened!"

"Sorry, ma'am," I said, inwardly groaning at what her reaction was going to be, "but this isn't Arista."

That proclamation was followed by silence on the other end of the phone.

"Who are you?" she asked warily.

"Nara Shikamaru. Your daughter's my neighbor. My mom sent me over to check up on her," I explained.

"Do you know where she is then? I've been trying to reach her all morning but she hasn't been answering her phone!"

"I'm sure she's around here somewhere, ma'am," I replied, not wanting to distress the woman further.

"Alright," she replied, reassured at last. "I'll call back later and see if I can catch her then. Thank you very much, young man!"

I snapped the phone shut once she hung up and set it back on the small table before heading out of the room to start looking for Arista again.

I can't help but wonder why she goes by Ritz, though. And where could she possibly disappear to? I looked around her yard quickly. It's not like there's anywhere to hide around here.

Something caught my attention as I was about to give up and go back home. Rather than going home and getting flack from my mom about not looking hard enough, I headed towards the garage where faint music was drifting from.

I opened the door a crack and peered in. Arista was playing her instrument, her body swaying in time to the music.

"Huh. So I guess you really are a musician," I said once she had stopped playing.

Her bow fell to the floor with a clatter as her head whipped around to face me. She looked like a little kid who just got caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"Y-you heard me?" she asked, no longer seeming like the confident yet annoying girl that I had met a few days ago.

I just nodded, wondering why she seemed so bothered by the fact that I had heard her playing.

"Your mom called," I stated, snapping her out of her shocked state.

"Why would my mom call your house?" she asked, her nose scrunching up in confusion.

"She didn't. Your aunt called my house. Your mom called you on your cell phone."

She blinked slowly, processing what I had told her. "Alright," she finally said, "I'll bite. Why were you using my cell phone?"

I just sighed. What a drag.

"My mom sent me over to look for you because both your aunt and mother were panicking over you not answering your phone. I happened to hear your phone ringing and answered it because it was getting on my nerves."

I wasn't about to admit that I had been looking around her room before answering her phone, however.

"Geez. Is there anything that doesn't get on your nerves?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow. "I mean seriously, there can't be much for you to do given that every little thing seems to annoy you."

"I like to sleep, watch clouds, and play Shogi or Go," I responded.

"What are Shogi and Go?" she asked, once again showing her ignorance of the country she had just moved to.

"They're strategy games," I explained with a note of irritation in my voice. "Shogi is a bit like American chess."

Her face lit up at the mention of chess. This could be troublesome.

"Chess, huh?" she questioned. "I have a chess set in my room. Why don't we play a quick game?"

I didn't have much choice as she bounded back towards the house, her long hair bouncing behind her as she walked.

I'd really rather go watch the clouds, but I doubt a game against her will take long. A quick game couldn't hurt, right? Maybe once I beat her she'll leave me alone.

"You can make the first move," she offered after setting her small chess set on the floor of her room.

I made my first move, smirking at her mistake. Never let the opponent make the first move. That was just setting yourself up for disaster. She seemed calm as she maneuvered her own pieces, however. It was an unusual feeling, having someone be so calm facing me at this game. Normally, people were sweating and panicking from the get go. Not Arista, though. None of her moves were fantastic, but she didn't seem worried in the least. It was kind of disconcerting to tell you the truth.

She was about to make another move when her phone rang, the music stopping her hand in midair. She turned her attention from the game to the phone and flipped it open, a smile gracing her face as she answered it.

"Yeah, mom, I'm fine," she said. "I was out practicing before. The books got here just fine, too. I've got about half of them up right now."

A pause.

"Him? Oh, he's my neighbor. We're playing chess right now, actually."

As she said this her eyes wandered back to the board. "Check," she stated, making her move and returning to her conversation.

I didn't catch the rest of her conversation as I stared at the board, not believing my ears. Did she really just say Check? That wasn't the worst of it, however. No matter how I looked at it, I was stuck. All of her moves that had seemed pointless before now had me trapped.

"Problems?" she asked sweetly, snapping her phone shut.

"No one's ever put me in Check before," I said, picking my head up to look at her.

She just brushed her blue and brown bangs out of her face and flashed me a lopsided grin.

It's certainly going to be an interesting year…

I turned over onto my back and folded my arms beneath my head. I've been lying in bed for hours already but I just can't get to sleep. I can't get that chess game out of my head. I've never been beaten before, let alone by someone like her.

"Troublesome woman," I sighed, making my way to the open window and taking a breath of the cool night air. _It must be because I'm so used to playing Shogi against more difficult opponents,_ I reasoned, knowing that it was a flawed argument but going with it nonetheless. _If we played Shogi I would definitely beat her._

A shrill beeping made its way from Arista's room to my own, which happened to be directly across our yards from one another. The beeping stopped, accompanied by an incomprehensible string of curses and oaths.

I chuckled to myself. At least I wasn't the only one who was getting a sleepless night.


	4. Chapter 4

"Wake up, Arista."

"Five more minutes, Auntie," I mumbled, rolling over and burying my head beneath the covers.

"Troublesome woman," the voice said again, "would you get up already!"

Now of course, common sense should have told me right away that it wasn't my aunt trying to wake me up. But what can I say; I'm just not a morning person.

"What a drag," the voice sighed. "Being late on the first day."

Several things happened in that instant.

First of all, the thought of being late for the first day of school jump started my brain. I **always** wake up before my alarm clock goes off, no matter how deeply I'm sleeping. So naturally it seemed odd to me that I'd be running late.

Secondly, it hit me that whoever was trying to wake me up most definitely did **not** sound like my Aunt Angie. Actually, it sounded an awful lot like that Shikamaru guy from next door.

Once that hit me, the question of why he was in my room and how he came to be there popped into my head.

"Dude," I said, poking my head out from beneath the blankets, "why the heck are you in my room? How'd you even get in here?"

He sighed. Again. "My mom and your aunt agreed that I would take you to school since it's so far away. As for getting in, your window was open."

I stared at him. Did he seriously just admit to climbing in through my window? Wait. My room is on the second floor, which makes it a good fifteen feet in the air. Maybe he used a ladder? But I'm sure I would've heard that. Maybe it's just better not to ask for now.

I glanced at my glowing alarm clock, almost choking when I saw what time it was.

**5 am.**

No wonder I hadn't heard the alarm go off!

I turned to face the yawning guy sitting in my window, my eyebrow twitching in annoyance. "Why in the world did you wake me up at five in the morning?" I demanded, ruing the fact that I could have slept for another hour and a half.

"Well," he drawled, "you're a girl so I figured you'd take awhile to get ready. Then it takes an hour and a half to get to the Academy from here." He looked like he was explaining some simple fact to a toddler.

"The school's only twenty-five miles away!" I exclaimed, being woken up early causing me to be a bit louder than normal. "Just how slowly do you drive?!"

He seemed to find my question funny, which only made me want to leap out of the bed and strangle him. "I don't drive," he said with a chuckle. "We'll be walking to the school."

I blanched. He had to be crazy. "Tell you what," I said, willing to do just about anything to avoid that suicide march. "If you get out and let me have another hour and twenty minutes of sleep, I'll drive you to the Academy."

He regarded me rather skeptically, but finally agreed. My eyelids sank down as he leapt lightly from my window.

After what seemed like only a matter of minutes, I blinked wearily, my still tired eyes struggling to focus on the blurrily blinking alarm clock.

**6:28 am.**

Like I said before, I don't know how I do it, but I always wake up just before my alarm clock goes off. Maybe it's just because I don't want to hear that annoying, incessant beeping.

I turned the alarm off so that I wouldn't have to listen to the soon to be beeping and made my way to the bathroom to take a shower and get ready for my first day of school.

I walked back into my room twenty minutes later, my long hair laying wet against my back and shoulders, a fluffy pink towel wrapped tightly around my body. The sight that greeted me when I opened my door almost caused me to drop my towel, however. Thankfully, I didn't.

I didn't say anything; I just stared at the young man as if he were crazy for the second time this morning, my eyes still watering from putting my contacts in.

"What the hell, baka?!" I demanded, my cheeks burning as he smirked.

"Well, that's one word you remember at least."

"Out!" I ordered, motioning towards the door to my room. "Wait for me downstairs."

"Just don't take too long," he replied, standing up and heading slowly for the door.

"I could have been dressed already if you hadn't been waiting in my room unannounced!" I said with a glare. He just ignored me and continued out the door, shutting it behind him.

He has to be the rudest person I've ever met. Now don't get me wrong, sometimes he could be half decent. He's been teaching me Japanese ever since I beat him at chess. A word a day. I like calling it 'Ritz's Attempt to Better Understand Japanese with the Help of Her Lazy Neighbor,' but he doesn't seem to appreciate my name for it. Whatever.

I put on my school uniform and looked at my reflection in the large mirror on my wall.

Forced once again to wear a uniform. Oh the tragedy!

I know it's a bit melodramatic, but if you had spent the past twelve years of your life wearing one you would feel the same way. It wouldn't be too terribly awful if the skirt wasn't so short. I mean seriously, just how much of my legs do the guys need to see? Not this much, I can tell you that!

After trying, rather unsuccessfully, to tie my gray and blue striped tie I made my way downstairs to see Shikamaru asleep on the couch.

Why does that not surprise me?

"Wake up, lazy bum," I said, nudging him in the side with my knee sock clad foot.

He cracked an eye open, looked at me, and then proceeded to turn over and face the back of the couch.

"Now you know how I felt when you woke me up this morning," I chided, applying more pressure to his abdomen with my foot.

He grunted and finally sat up, eyes still half closed. "You need to wear that, you know," he said, indicating the tie hanging loosely from my hand.

"Actually," I said with a sheepish laugh, "I can't tie it. Would you mind?" I asked, holding my tie out to him.

"How troublesome," he sighed, taking the loose tie from my outstretched hand. "Your hair's still wet," he observed as he popped my collar and placed the tie around my neck.

"Don't worry," I chirped. "It'll dry on the way to school."

"Driving with the windows down wastes gas, you know."

"Who said anything about windows? I have a bike."

He sighed once again.

Anyone else noticing a trend here?

"A bike? That won't get us there much faster than walking. It just seems like more work to me."

"I'll bring it around front and meet you outside," I said with a grin as I grabbed my school shoes, messenger bag and a Poptart. Boy was he in for a surprise.

And I was right of course. The look on his face when I drove around the corner from the garage was just priceless. I never get tired of seeing that look on people's faces, but on his especially it was like a Kodak moment. Seeing that usually imperturbable and laidback face contorted into a look of shock made my morning.

"Man, the thought of you driving a **car** had me scared enough. But a **motorcycle**? You're just getting more troublesome by the minute."

"I'd put this on," I suggested, holding out a black helmet as he looked warily at my bike. "Now hold on," I said once he had climbed onto the bike behind me.

He placed his hands awkwardly on my waist, mumbling something about this being troublesome. I'm really beginning to think that's his catch-phrase! Actually, come to think of it, having a catch-phrase would be kind of cool. Almost like being a superhero or something! I'll have to tell him about that later. I'm sure he'll just **love** it.

"Now then," I began, pulling slowly away from the curb, "you're going to have to tell me how to get there. My aunt told me this morning but I've never been very good with directions."

"Oh well that's reassuring," he said dryly. I can only imagine that he was rolling his eyes behind my back. "The shortest route would be that way." He pointed to a street branching off to the left. "But with traffic-"

The rest of his words were lost to the wind as I drove in the indicated direction. Within five minutes, however, we had come to a stop, sandwiched in between the stopped cars in front of us and those waiting behind us.

"I tried to tell you," Shikamaru muttered, shaking his head.

"Oh come on," I laughed. "Do you really think a little bit of traffic is going to hold us up?" He didn't answer. "Hang on tightly, now!" I cautioned before accelerating and zipping through the stationary lines of traffic.

Shikamaru was saying something behind me, but I couldn't hear him over the wind and the sounds of traffic flying past us. Light? Lift? Less? None of those seemed really relevant.

"Left!" he shouted, his voice finally reaching my ears.

I made a hard left turn and felt his arms wrapping tighter around my waist as we skidded to a rough stop in a parking lot. Thank God no one had been standing there. My heart was pounding with what I could only assume was the adrenaline rush from the hasty stop.

"I know you must love having your arms around me," I said with a cheeky grin, turning my head to face Shikamaru, "but you can feel free to let go now."

He looked like he was in a state of shock, but he released his grip nonetheless.

"You know, for a lazy bum you've sure got a pretty strong grip," I commented, rubbing my abdomen where he had been holding on for dear life.

"Sorry," he muttered, looking away and rubbing the back of his neck as I clambered rather ungracefully from my bike.

"Anyway," he said, already beginning to trudge towards the building, "I'll see you around." With that, he turned his back to me and started off without a second glance.

I stood next to my bike dumbfounded. Was I seriously just ditched by my would-be tour guide? Well, whatever. I'm pretty sure I can handle finding my way around school by myself. "Now where did I put my schedule," I muttered, rummaging through my messenger bag. I finally pulled out a crinkled piece of paper, doing my best to smooth it out as I walked. At least it was in English.

"Advanced Physics. Advanced Calculus. Advanced World Literature. Phys Ed. Japanese Culture. Philosophy."

Great. Just great. My parents signed me up for genius classes. Just what I would have wanted.

**Not.**

I hate to show off. Not only because it draws unwanted attention to me, but also because it tends to alienate people. Of course, this only comes from first-hand experience.

In high school, I was always the first person to raise my hand, the first person to turn in a test, the first person to be done the current assignment. Sure, the teachers were impressed, as were a few of my classmates. But there would also be those few people who would give me dirty looks or make a snide comment. My friends and parents always said that it was because they were jealous and wanted to make themselves feel better, but I know that it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been so eager to show off. I don't want to go through that again, which is why I plan on keeping a low profile right from the get-go here.

Heck, I had even overhauled my image. I got contacts despite the fact that they bothered my eyes, grew my formerly short hair out, and put a blue streak in my bangs. Certainly, no self-respecting nerd would be caught dead looking like this.

I entered the first room listed on my sheet and spared a glance at my watch. Twenty minutes early, which means there's plenty of time to get accustomed. Unfortunately, things have a nasty habit of doing the opposite of what I would like, most times.

"Well hello there, lovely lady!" Kiba exclaimed, breaking my thoughts and extending his hand in greeting.

"Hello, Kiba," I replied, flinching a bit under his crushing handshake.

"Wait," he said, stopping mid shake, "how'd you know my name?"

"She's the girl from the ramen shop, baka," came a drawling voice. "Ritz was it?"

I nodded, not realizing until it was too late that every single girl in the room was now glaring daggers at me.

"Excuse us, but we need a word with the new girl," said an annoyed voice as two girls approached from the other side of the room.

The speaker was a girl with long platinum blonde hair covering one side of her face and pale blue eyes. The girl accompanying her had the most disgusting bubblegum pink hair I've ever seen and sea-foam green eyes. Both looked like they were on the hunt for their next prey.

"Just who do you think you are?" the blonde demanded once the pair had dragged me to the other side of the room. "You can't just come in here and make Sasuke notice you like that! He's ours!"

"That's right," the pink-haired girl continued. "Ino and I have been competing over him for years and there's no way that we're about to let some new girl get in our way! So back off or else!"

I'm not that easily intimidated, but the look on Ino's face was enough to make my blood go cold. She looked like she was capable of tearing my throat out right where I stood. The pink-haired girl was the one making the threats, however, and she didn't seem all that scary so keeping my cool wasn't all that hard. Of course, that all changed once she brought her fist down on a desk for emphasis and shattered it into a thousand pieces.

"Sakura, that's enough," came a new female voice, stopping the scene before it escalated any further. "Just leave her alone, I doubt she's after your precious little Sasuke anyway."

"Yeah, she seems way too smart to chase after someone like him."

Two new girls stood behind Sakura and Ino, eyes narrowed as if they were daring them to say another word. One, a girl with sandy blonde hair pulled into four spiky ponytails, was a few inches taller that my harassers and stood with her arms folded over her chest, almost daring them to make another move. The other was about my height and wore her dark brown hair pulled into two Mickey Mouse-esque buns on top of her head.

_Interesting hairstyles, but hey, I won't complain if they get me out of this mess._

Unfortunately, Ino and Sakura weren't moving.

"Look," the blonde said, "we really don't want any difficulties."

"But if you two insist," picked up the brunette, her hand dropping easily to her bag, "we'll be more than happy to oblige."

"That's enough, ladies!" came a booming voice from the doorway. A rather large man, who I can only assume is our physics teacher, stood there, taking in the scene. "I don't care what you do before class starts, but once that clock hits 8, it's my time, not yours. Now take your seats, please."

I quickly moved to take a seat at the back of the room, but I'm pretty sure the damage had already been done. So much for keeping a low profile.


	5. Chapter 5

"Geez, I can't leave you alone for five minutes without you getting yourself into trouble. What a drag."

"Well it's not like it's my fault! Those two psychos just came over and accosted me! What was I supposed to do, if I may ask?"

"You could have at least steered clear of Ino. Now she's going to be miserable."

"And I repeat, how was I supposed to know-"

Our hushed conversation came to an abrupt end as a large fist slammed down on our desk, bringing with it the overpowering odor of smoke. Asuma, our physics teacher, stood in front of our work table, arms now crossed over his chest, a cigarette hanging loosely from between his lips.

"While I'm sure that your little discussion was quite important," a few snickers and laughs penetrated the air and I could feel my cheeks burn, "I'd appreciate it if you would pay attention during my class and save the chit-chatting for later. Since you had the time to talk, however, I'm sure that means that you're both done with the problem on the board. Either of you willing to give me an answer?"

My eyes flicked past Asuma to the problem scrawled across the blackboard.

I'd never heard of shuriken being used in a physics problem, but it was still just a simple trajectory with an added rotational aspect. _If the shuriken's radius is a given of .037 meters and its rotational velocity is 168.5 radians/second, then that makes its initial tangential velocity…6.23 meters/second. The shuriken is thrown at an angle of 30 degrees, so that means the x component of the initial velocity is 3.115 meters/second. Time until impact is given at 2.1 seconds. That gives me a horizontal distance of…6.54 meters. Now I can use that to find the shuriken's acceleration…-2.97 meters/second². Now I can use the acceleration, initial velocity and distance to find the final velocity, which is…wait. That can't be right. It can't be negative! Unless…_

"It never hits its target," I breathed, earning Shikamaru's attention.

"What are you talking about?" he asked. "Of course it does. You probably just made an error in your calculations."

"No," I said, louder this time, gaining the attention of Asuma and some of the students around me as well. "It never hits. The final velocity is negative, which means it's traveling to the left, the opposite direction it was moving in to begin with. It's repelled and pushed backwards somehow."

"Correct!" Asuma boomed, looking much more pleasant than he had a few moments ago. Everyone's heads turned in time to witness him giving me a sound, spine-crushing clap on the back. "A good shinobi always looks for the hidden meanings within the hidden meanings."

At least my display of intelligence seemed to raise my status in Asuma's eye. That should at least cancel out the little episode from this morning. _Once a geek, always a geek, I suppose. But I wonder what a shinobi is. Maybe it's Japanese for physicist? I'll have to ask Shikamaru later._

I had no chance to ask him in Calculus because as soon as we entered the room our teacher, Iruka, gave us a worksheet to hand in at the end of the period.

Literature provided a better opportunity, however. Once Kakashi had given us our reading assignment, he retreated back to his desk and pulled out a book of his own which, judging by the cover alone, was not school appropriate.

I turned to Shikamaru, who luckily was sitting right next to me again, as I flipped through the pages in my book. "Hey, Shikamaru," I whispered, earning a sigh and annoyed look from him.

"What, Arista?" he asked with an annoyed sigh.

"One, don't call me that. Two, I was just wondering. What's a shinobi?"

I thought he was choking. On what, I don't know, but the fact remained that his face was bright red and I'm really not sure if he was breathing or not. In fact, I was in the process of rising to my feet to alert Kakashi when Shikamaru finally stopped coughing.

"You're kidding, right?" he asked after pulling me back down into my seat.

I shook my head. "But I was thinking. Is it Japanese for physicist?" Before he could respond, the gong sounded and I hurried to catch up with my two saviors from earlier on the way to P.E.

"I just wanted to say thank you for earlier," I said, finally catching up to their quick-paced stride.

"Don't mention it," the darker haired one said. "I'm Tenten," she stated, offering her hand, "and this is Temari."

"Ritz," I said with a smile, finally glad to have met some sane people here.

"Don't mind those two," Temari said, jerking her head towards my two harassers from earlier. "They're Sasuke's two number one fan girls, so you going anywhere near him was basically like throwing bait to a group of starving lions."

Once we reached the locker rooms, we changed into our P.E. uniforms and made our way to the outdoor training grounds. The sight that greeted me was enough to assure me that this was going to be my least favorite class.

For gym at a preppy school like this, I had been expecting something easy, like badminton or walking laps. But no, the open air grounds were covered with what looked like a giant obstacle course for super-humans; walls taller than the trees with no ropes or handholds, huge expanses of water with not a stepping stone in sight and human-shaped targets dangling loosely from tree branches.

"Looks like he's taking it easy for the first day," Tenten commented. "Normally he has twice as many obstacles set up."

"Just how exactly are we supposed to get through this obstacle course?" I asked, dreading having to go through it in front of my classmates.

"It's not as bad as it looks," Temari said with a laugh. "Just a simple chakra exercise."

_Chakra? It kind of sounds like quatre, the French word for four._

"Is it anything like quatre?" I asked.

"See guys!" Naruto yelled, joining in on the conversation, "I told you I wasn't the only person who called it catra! Dattebayo!"

"It's just, it sounds an awful lot like the French word for the number four, that's all," I explained.

Before I could fully registered the shocked looks on everyone's faces I felt myself being tugged away from the group. Shikamaru was practically dragging me away, leading me a fair distance away from our classmates.

"Was whatever you had to say really important enough to drag me away from everyone else?" I asked wearily. What a weird guy.

"You really don't know what a shinobi is? Or even chakra?" he questioned. I shook my head in the negative, earning myself one of his ever so frequent sighs. "Gai sensei," he yelled, addressing the green jumpsuit clad teacher who had just entered the training grounds on a turtle's back, "Arista's really sick," I groaned as he elbowed me in the gut. "I'm going to take her to the nurse's office." The teacher just waved his hand dismissively before turning his attention back to the students who had already started on the obstacle course.

"What was all that about?" I demanded on the way to the nurse's office. It was starting to seem like it was everyone's goal to draw attention to me today!

"You looked sick," he said, not sounding very convincing at all. "You were groaning in pain just a moment ago."

"Because you elbowed me in the gut!" I shouted, very nearly losing my temper. "If you don't tell me what's going on I just won't move from this spot," I declared, planting my feet on the ground and placing my hands on my hips.

Any normal person would have stopped, heaved an exasperated sigh, and given in to my stubbornness. In light of these facts, it would stand to reason that Shikamaru is **not** a normal person. Oh, he stopped and let out a rather loud sigh, alright, but he didn't answer me. In fact, he had the audacity to grab me around the waist and hoist me over his shoulders!

"Would you stop squirming already, troublesome woman?"

"I don't see how I'm the troublesome one when you started it," I retorted, wiggling around in attempt to make myself comfortable. As luck would have it, however, once I was finally comfortable we arrived at the nurse's office and I had to walk on my own.

"Lady Tsunade," Shikamaru said, addressing the blonde woman after we had walked inside, "Arista's stomach was bothering her. I think Shizune should check her out." A black-haired woman led me to a small examining room, but let me assure you, if looks could kill, Shikamaru would be dead on the floor of the nurse's office.

{Shikamaru's PoV}

"She didn't really look sick to me," Tsunade commented, watching Shizune escort Arista into the next room. "What's the real problem?" she asked, turning her penetrating gaze to me.

"She's not a shinobi," I said, cutting straight to the point. "She has no idea what chakra is and even asked me what a shinobi was."

"Nonsense. I go through every applicant's file personally. Hers was stellar. Her grades were top-notch and her recommendations were glowing. But…now that you mention it, none of her paperwork mentioned anything about being a shinobi."

I let out a loud sigh. "How could you let something like that slip?"

"You try running a school for ninja! We receive hundreds of applications every year because of how prestigious the school is. Obviously not all of them are shinobi, but they do tend to blur together after awhile. That and," her voice dropped and she looked away, "I may have been drinking."

"You're kidding, right?" I asked, eyebrow twitching. "You were drunk and that's why she's here? Well, she can't stay here, that's for sure. It'll become painfully obvious to the other students that she's not a shinobi, especially in Gai-sensei's gym class."

"We can't just kick her out," Tsunade argued. "That would raise too many questions about the school and we wouldn't really have a satisfactory answer as to why she was being asked to leave."

"You could try to convince her to transfer somewhere else. What about a music conservatory?"

"But what do you give as the reason? 'I'm sorry, Arista, but this is secretly a school for ninja.' The odds of her believing that are low to begin with. But then what happens if she does believe it? We can't have someone outside of the shinobi community aware of what we do here. We'll just have to watch her carefully and make sure she doesn't suspect anything. She'll attend special sessions with me instead of her P.E. class. All of the teachers will be notified at once as well. And since you're the one who brought this to my attention, Shikamaru," a wicked grin spread across her face, "keeping track of her will be your responsibility."

Before I could protest, Arista reappeared from the examining room and Tsunade ushered us both out of her office, a triumphant grin crossing her face as she slammed the door in my face.

"Come on," I said, grabbing Arista's arm and dragging her out of the nurse's office. "It's lunch time and if I don't get there soon Choji is going to eat my food for me."


	6. Chapter 6

Lunch passed rather uneventfully. I sat with Shikamaru's friends, learned a few more names that I won't remember by tomorrow and made idle chit chat.

And as much as my first day had seemed to drag, it was already over. That's what I love about college. It's lunchtime and my classes are already over. At least my parents were thinking when they scheduled my classes. Four classes Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and only two classes Tuesday and Thursday. How glorious compared to high school!

Sweet freedom! The dull roar of my bike kicking to life, the feeling of the wind blowing back my hair. The ride home was far more invigorating than the ride to school had been. Of course, that could be because this time my ribcage wasn't being crushed by my sloth of a neighbor's vice-like grip.

Shikamaru said he had some sort of practice this afternoon and would find his own way back. It's odd, though. I can't really picture him playing a sport. I imagine him more as the lay back in a hammock and sleep the afternoon away kind of guy. Come to think of it, I was pretty much the only person in the parking lot after lunch. For a school comprised entirely of commuters, I had expected at least a few people to be leaving after the morning session. Ah well, at least I didn't have to worry about heavy traffic leaving school.

The only downside to coming home so early is that my aunt is still at work, leaving me alone in the house. At least it gives me a chance to catch up on my reading. I've been on a detective fiction kick lately, and thankfully the local library has an English language section.

Every turn of the page brings more suspense and intrigue and keeps me reading until the very end. How exciting it must be to play the detective and outsmart everyone! I would love-

I looked at my now beeping computer; a video chat request from Tony. But I suppose I haven't mentioned him yet, have I?

Tony has been my boyfriend since my junior year of high school. We've had our rough spots, mainly because he was a jock and I was a music geek, but we managed to get through everything. He was opposed to me studying in Japan, but he conceded eventually. Being half a world apart has been rough, but we've been getting through it by texting and emailing one another. Speaking of which…

"Hi!" I chirped, smiling brightly. Being able to video chat was a rare occasion thanks to busy schedules and the time difference, so being able to see him always brought a smile to my face.

"Look, Ritz, I…" He paused.

"What's wrong?" I asked, finally noticing the troubled look on his face.

"I don't think we can be together anymore."

"What? But why? If it's about being so far apart, we can manage! I'll call every day and-"

"Just give it up, hun. He's not interested anymore." The new speaker was a buxom blonde whose face was now uncomfortably close to Tony's. As if she were reading my mind, she leaned over and locked lips with him, their disgusting display taking up the entire screen.

"Ritz, this is Claire…my new girlfriend," Tony mumbled once they had broken apart for air.

I didn't even hear what he said after that, didn't even notice when the video screen went blank.

It's been a few weeks since the incident and I'd like to think that I've been coping fairly well. Granted, those two girls who saved me on the first day of school have been helping a lot.

The rest of that first week was rather miserable. I barely talked and was always on the verge of tears, especially when I saw disgustingly happy couples around campus. On the plus side, the lack of social life and need to keep my mind busy led to me throwing myself whole-heartedly into my studies.

Fortunately, Tenten and Temari decided to intervene. They took me out for a girl's day out and really helped me break out of my funk. Tenten was there with sympathy, a shoulder to cry on and all the good gossip to help take my mind off of it. Temari, on the other hand, took more of a tough love approach and basically told me to just snap out of it. As completely different as their two methods were, they really did help a lot.

They've helped me to understand that I am way better off without him. I don't need someone like him in my life. The fact that I've managed to get through the past few weeks, paired with the knowledge that he was cheating on me, only prove that. Why should I have to worry about every little thing and have to walk on eggshells just to please him? I certainly don't need a boyfriend who questions everything I do and is only looking out for himself. I'm perfectly capable of living my own life and I don't need a boyfriend in order to be happy.

While it did hurt that he broke up with me, it really was inevitable; looking back on things, I can see that now. The part that still stings is that he was cheating on me before he broke things off. My first boyfriend, back during my freshman year of high school, broke up with me after only a month to get back together with his ex. Turned out I was just in the picture to make her jealous enough to want him back. After that, I always carried the fear that I would just be used again. I had finally gotten comfortable with Tony after a few months, however, and that nagging insecurity went away. But now, now it was back with a vengeance.

Anyway, ranting and emotional tirade aside, I'm grateful to have made such good friends. Although, I must admit, the students at Konoha Academy seem a bit…off. They seem to come and go with the wind. One class Tenten will be sitting right next to me and then an hour later she's gone. It's the same with everyone else, too. It's like they just disappear. The teachers don't even seem to notice, either! When they get to their name, they just pass over it like they don't even exist. It's just so bizarre.

Sometimes, though, it just seems like everyone is keeping one giant secret from me. Maybe it's just my imagination going into over drive from reading so many detective novels. But for now, I'm content to go with the flow.


	7. Chapter 7

"Oof!"

The wind rushed out of me as I landed with a thud on my already sore backside. That would signify a fail. But at least this time I didn't hit my face. That one had hurt a bit more, unfortunately.

Just one more try. Of course, I said that after the last six attempts, as well. But the fourteenth try's the charm right?

I backed up a few more feet, drew in a deep breath, and started my futile run. My feet connected with my target for less than a second before I felt myself go airborne. I braced myself for what I was quite certain was going to be the most painful impact yet, but it never came.

"What exactly were you trying to do?"

The question was accompanied by an exasperated sigh.

"Trying to climb a tree," I chirped brightly, twisting around to face my savior.

"By running straight at it? Most people actually use their hands, you know. And why are you soaking wet?"

"I tried walking across my pond earlier," I admitted, earning myself yet another sigh. "At first, I thought it was just a matter of building up enough speed, since you guys always sprint during your gym class. So I got a running start and made it to the pond, but then I tripped and face planted into the water. Then, I thought maybe the principal was the same as walking across hot coals, and that the less pressure I apply, the better off I am. I tried walking lightly, but my feet still just went right through the water. It's really all your fault, you know." I pouted for emphasis.

"I don't even hang out with you. How is this all my fault?"

"You set an impossible example for me to follow. If you and your friends acted like normal human beings, these law-of-science-defying ideas never would have made their way into my normally rational mind."

"Ouch!"

I landed with a dull thud. "You could have at least warned me," I complained, turning to scowl at Shikamaru from my painful position on the ground. "You don't just go dropping-"

But he was gone. Now by gone, I don't mean he was in the process of walking away. No, he had completely and totally disappeared. The only thing left behind was the faintest odor of smoke.

What an odd boy.

***

I let out a sigh.

What a waste of a such a lovely day. It's a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and here I am, stuck inside reading for my Japanese Culture class. Granted, the class didn't meet again until Tuesday, but if I put if off until tomorrow then all my other teachers will decide to swamp me with work. It always happens that way; it's just a given.

We were currently studying the history of the ninja. Sounds exciting, right?

Wrong.

When Kurenai-sensei gave us the assignment, I was pumped. Let's be honest here, ninjas are just plain cool. I had figured that learning about them would have been proportionally awesome. But no. I'm only two pages in and I've already been bombarded by unnecessary dates and names that I had no hope of remembering on a pop quiz.

I sighed again as I realized that I had spent the past five minutes staring blankly out the window. It had been such a strange week. Ever since Shikamaru had caught me trying to replicate their gym class antics, I've just had the odd feeling that I'm being watched constantly. But anyway, back to the books.

_**Ninja**__ were assassins, trained in the Japanese art of ninjutsu. Ninja, like samurai, followed their own special code of conduct, called ninpo. According to some modern practitioners of ninjutsu, the ninja's specialty was not assassination but rather espionage._

_It is popularly believed that the ancient ninja were peasants, who were forbidden under law from studying the samurai swordplay techniques because of the caste structure of their society. This was not necessarily true as most ninja were also samurai, operating as spies in an underground intelligence network._

_See also: __**Shinobi**_

My hand was visibly trembling as I turned to the referenced page.

It described in detail the evolution of the shinobi and their transition into modern society. It also discussed the matter of chakra, which basically allowed them to perform super human feats by channeling and focusing it.

It finally made sense. Why the other students had looked at me like I was crazy when I said I didn't know what chakra was. Why Tsunade had removed me from my gym class. Why these normal looking kids were capable of such super human feats.

But how could they have kept something like this hidden for so long? Surely I wasn't the only person at Konoha Academy who had noticed their peculiar behavior, especially when it was spelled out in black and white in a required text book! I opened up my laptop, typed 'Konoha Academy' into the search bar, and clicked on the school's link.

_Konoha Academy, one of Japan's most elite undergraduate programs, is a highly selective school located on the island of Okinawa. The Academy's mission is to nurture and enhance students' natural abilities and produce self-sufficient graduates who will use their unique talents in their chosen field. At Konoha Academy, we promote both individual and group based work studies and push our students to achieve above and beyond the norm…_

The rest of the school's mission statement read similar to that, sounding like nothing more than a normal high class school. There was nothing in it to suggest that they were secretly training ninjas. It just didn't add up. Maybe I'm just overreacting and blowing all of this out of proportion. Maybe they're all just really athletic and my imagination is going into overdrive from reading too many detective novels.

Sadly, that alone did not quell my curiosity. One way or the other, I was going to find out what was (or was not) going on at Konoha Academy. I was going to need rock-hard evidence, and I knew just where to start.


	8. Chapter 8

_My feet thudded against the ground, pounding out what seemed to me a terrible cadence. Twigs and leaves crunched beneath my feet, every little snap giving away my location. Every little shadow seemed sinister. _

_They were going to catch me. My bike was parked back by the road, and here I was running through the forest in an effort to give them the slip. Freedom was miles away and I was already gasping for breath._

_I let out a scream as a figure leapt in front of me from the shadowy trees, my built up momentum causing me to barrel into him at full force._

_His hand clamped over my mouth as I opened my mouth to shout for help, but it was too late. We were surrounded. One of them threw a shuriken, but we were too slow-_

I woke up screaming, the covers on my bed lying in a crumpled heap near my feet. This investigating was really beginning to get to me. This was the third time in the past two weeks that I'd had a nightmare like that. They always started out differently, but the ending was always the same. Some ninja threw a shuriken and I woke up screaming my head off, safe and sound in my own bed.

I glanced at my clock, which was showing only a little past three. I rolled over onto my side to try and get a few more hours of sleep before my alarm went off. Sadly, sweet sleep refused to grace me with her presence. Yet another sleepless night spent alternately staring at my ceiling and looking listlessly out the window.

If I believed in omens, then maybe I would have viewed today a little more warily. I was too tired to register the stormy looking sky as a sign of things to come. The only thought that the grey clouds evoked, however, was that I sincerely hoped the storm waited until after I was home from school before hitting, because there was no way I was driving my bike in a downpour.

As it was, I was dreading the tedious drive to school, which only offered me an exponentially more dangerous opportunity to fall asleep. Fortunately, luck, and a thankfully alert driving companion, were both with me. The school day seemed to pass in a blur. My Wednesday classes flew by in the blink of an eye and the few catnaps that I had been able to garner in between them had me feeling considerably more awake than I had been earlier in the day.

Now that I was awake (at least enough to be functioning) and school was over, I made a beeline for my motorcycle and headed straight to the local park where Shikamaru and his friends always hung out after their classes. I'd made up my mind last night (or was it this morning?) that today was going to be my last attempt to find out what was really going on with my classmates. I'd been losing entirely too much sleep over it and the fact that I was having those stupid recurring nightmares was enough to tell me that it was taking its toll not only physically, but mentally as well. If, after today, I couldn't prove that my classmates were anything other than normal, albeit slightly bizarre, college students, then I would drop my entire shinobi hypothesis and leave well enough alone.

I stashed my bike and settled down in the same spot in the bushes that I'd been hiding in for the past two and a half weeks, waiting for my subjects to appear. Thirty minutes later and they appeared like clockwork. These boys sure were consistent; I had to give them that. Kiba always played Frisbee or fetch with Akamaru, his giant of a dog. Shino stalked insects through the underbrush. Naruto and Sasuke got into stupid arguments. Shikamaru either stared at the sky or slept and Choji sat near him munching away on barbeque chips. It was consistent to the point of being monotonous and, in my opinion, suspicious.

A rather boring hour and a half passed with nothing eventful happening. Well, unless you counted Kiba and Akamaru's Frisbee accidentally landing smack dab on top of Shikamaru while he was sleeping. I'll admit, it took quite a bit of self control to keep me from giggling. That aside, however, it really looked like I was just watching a bunch of regular teenage guys hanging out together. What a disappointment! I go through the trouble of doing all that research, spy on surreptitiously observe my classmates, and let my imagination send my hopes skyrocketing only to-

The boys had all frozen and what had before seemed like a relaxed scene was suddenly entirely too tense. Had they noticed me? I kept perfectly still, watching as the silent tension continued to build until, just like the storm that had been brewing all day, it exploded.

Naruto and Sasuke disappeared into the treetops just as the first flash of lightning lit up the sky, looking like nothing more than two black blurs as they melted into the shadows. Shino's arms looked like they were bleeding bugs, but I hastily turned my head away before I could get a good look and shuddered involuntarily. Ew. Bugs. That just left Kiba and Shikamaru, both of whom looked rather indecisive at the moment. The normally laid back genius didn't look so calm now. They seemed to be arguing about something, but it didn't last long.

"Akamaru, get her out of here!"

There was a momentary sensation of vertigo and next thing I knew, I was barreling through the forest on the giant dog's back. The huge trees were little more than green and brown blurs as we shot past them. The heavy rain felt like daggers as it slashed down around us, which definitely did not help to calm me down as we hurtled through the now muddy forest.

Akamaru skidded to a sudden halt, causing me to grab several painful fistfuls of fur to keep myself from being thrown from his broad back. Before I could ask what had provoked the jarring stop, Akamaru let out a fierce bark and I could feel his body vibrating beneath me as he continued to growl.

My shriek mingled with his next bark as black garbed men suddenly surrounded us. They looked exactly like the stereotypical ninja, but none of that mattered anymore. I hadn't even heard them coming, let alone seen how they appeared so quickly. It was almost as if they had materialized out of the shadows themselves. There were at least six of them, armed with countless hidden weapons and super human reflexes, against just the two of us, a giant-and hopefully ninja-trained-dog and a helpless girl who was frozen with fear. We were goners.

I scrunched my eyes shut and braced myself for the impact. Let me tell you, no matter how much pain you've ever been in before, it will never compare to the feeling of having cold metal slicing through your skin. I'd never felt more vulnerable than when I stood there clutching my bleeding arm. It had cut through my blazer as if it wasn't even there and sliced through the skin on my arm as easily as I could move my hand through the air.

Akamaru let out another savage growl before leaping at the ninja who had thrown the shuriken. The man went down with a shout and, before I could convince myself otherwise, I sprinted for the newly created opening and ran ahead, hoping that Akamaru could handle the rest of the shinobi by himself.

I pumped my legs harder and harder, each step accompanied by the sucking sound of mud as my sneakers tore free of the vacuous forest floor. I felt another shuriken lodge itself in my school bag, but I continued running, clutching at the stitch in my side, my breath coming in ever shorter gasps. Oh how I wish I were in better shape! It wouldn't be so bad if this forest wasn't so gosh darn big! I mean seriously, where's the stupid shining ray of light that's supposed to signal my freedo-

I would have fallen on my backside in the mud if a pair of strong arms hadn't caught me. My mouth opened to let out a shriek of terror, but the breath died on my lips as my eyes found the human roadblock's face. "Sh-Shikamaru?" I gasped, still clinging to him for support. The built-up tears were mixing with the dirt and rain that had already stained my face. "What's going on? Why are all these ninja here? Is everyone else alright? I-"

He didn't even have to turn around to take out the ninja who had appeared behind him.

"Shikamaru, I think that was the last of them," Naruto announced, landing beside us. His sudden appearance nearly gave me a heart attack. Sadly, his proclamation that the rest of the enemies had been taken care of proved to be false.

I shuddered as I felt the sharp metal tear through my soaked shirt and tried to cry out as I felt it embed itself in my back, but my nonexistent voice wouldn't have any of it. I slumped against Shikamaru and I could have sworn I heard him mutter "How troublesome," before everything went black.


	9. Chapter 9

Ahhh, man, my head really hurt. Come to think of it, so did my back. And my legs. And my arm. I just hurt in general. Thankfully, someone had had the good sense to lie me on my stomach, which seemed to be the only part of my body that wasn't throbbing in pain at the moment.

"…could always tell her…tree fell…lightning storm…"

That sounded like Tsunade, but her voice kept fading in and out.

"She's not stupid. She's going to figure it out sooner or later. Why not just get it out of the way now?" That would be Shikamaru, who sounded surprisingly close.

A rather tense silence followed their little exchange, and I'm assuming neither one of them was used to being questioned or challenged.

"Why were they after her anyway?" Kiba's booming voice cut through the oppressive silence that had descended after Shikamaru and Tsunade's little exchange. The sound of rustling paper reached my ears and I heard Kiba let out a low whistle. "That's a lot of zeros."

A low rumble sounded from outside and I would have started up in alarm had a warm, restraining hand not placed itself on my arm. The jolt that that simple touch sent through me was even more alarming than hearing my motorcycle purring outside. Before my thoughts could progress anywhere beyond noticing how rough with calluses his hands were, Tsunade's voice interrupted again.

"We can't risk word of this getting out to the population, especially the local police forces. That would only make things worse than they already are. We'll only tell her if her safety hinges upon her knowing the full scope of the situation. Until then, make sure one of our people is always with her. She can't be roaming around by herself anymore. Shikamaru, watch her while I go try to straighten some things out and bring her to my office when she wakes up."

I heard a door close, accompanied by two fading sets of footsteps, and soon the only sound in the room was the soft, even breathing coming from beside me. I ventured opening my eyes the tiniest bit and saw Shikamaru sitting in a rather uncomfortable looking chair, his eyes focused on what looked like the daily paper. His hand was still resting on my arm, his thumb tracing light circles on my wrist.

"Shikamaru?" I finally ventured. No answer. He still appeared to be intently studying the newspaper. What in the world was so interesting in that paper! "Shikamaru, what's going on?"

He finally handed me the newspaper. The top of the paper proclaimed that it was the Tokyo Times, but unfortunately, that was the only part of the paper that was in English. The rest of the page was covered in small characters that I had no hope of translating, even with the minimal amount of Japanese I had begun to pick up. That wasn't what caught my attention, however. I let out a small gasp as the focal point of the page caught my eye. "That's me!" I exclaimed, referring to the large, color picture that was blocked in by the text. Sure enough, there I was, intently playing my violin in Hakase-sensei's studio.

"What does the article say?" I queried, handing it back to Shikamaru and wondering how this was supposed to answer my previous question.

"Hailing from the United States of America, Arista Burana is being lauded as the next up and coming violin virtuoso," Shikamaru read. "At the age of sixteen, Burana placed first in the U.S. National Violin Competition and has been on the rise since then. Now eighteen, she has moved to Japan to study under the tutelage of world-renowned violinist Hakase Taro in preparation for the Stradivarius International Violin Competition to be hosted in Japan in 2011. Adding to the building anticipation about Burana's appearance at the festival is the excitement of violin enthusiasts world-wide to both see and hear her prized violin. Burana plays on an antique Stradivarius violin, handmade by the famed Antonio Stradivari at the height of his career. The rare violin, made over 300 years ago, plays as beautifully in this talented young woman's hands as it did the day it was made. The instrument bears the maker's original stamp and is valued at approximately 304,231,471.62 JPY." He looked up from the paper and locked onto my eyes. "That converts to about 3.2 million U.S. dollars, in case you were wondering. The rest of the article goes on like that. It's no wonder you're a prime kidnapping victim. Whoever put stuff like this in the paper is just asking for trouble."

"Kidnapping? Why would someone be trying to kidnap me?!" I cried, earning myself a glare from Shikamaru for raising my voice.

"You're just proving Tsunade's point by freaking out," he admonished. "Calm down and think about it logically. You're the United States' claim to fame in the violin world at the moment. But, now that you're studying in Japan, odds are better than even that Japan would lay claims to you as well if you won. Whoever is after you realizes this as well, and is banking on both countries vying for you if you disappear. The fact that you come with a 3.2 million dollar violin just makes you all the more desirable." He brushed a strand of hair out of my face as he said that and I swear to god my face was so hot that I could have spontaneously combusted right then and there.

"W-what's going to happen to me?" I murmured after I had finally managed to compose myself.

"We're going to watch you twenty-four-seven." I made a face at this. "Within limits, of course," he added with a chuckle, catching the look of horror on my face. "Tsunade wanted to see you when you woke up, though, so we probably shouldn't keep her waiting any longer."

With that, I made my way to Tsunade's office, albeit with more than a little help from Shikamaru as I was still rather sore. Once we got there she fed me some convoluted story about how the guys had found me lying next to a broken tree in the park. Her best guess was that I got spooked by the lightning storm and happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when a tree fell. She said that I shouldn't expect to remember much of what had happened due to head trauma and to make sure I got plenty of rest over the next few days. Talk about an unbelievable story! But then again, I guess what really happened isn't any more believable.

Shikamaru and I drove home on my bike, which Sasuke had been kind (or perhaps crazy would be a better word) to drive back to school for me. It wasn't until I had parked in the garage and was getting ready to go inside that a thought struck me. "Won't Aunt Angie be concerned about why I'm coming home so late on a school night?"

"We already took care of that," he answered, leading me towards my window rather than the front door. "You'll see," he said in response to the quizzical look on my face. "Hang on tight." Before I knew what was happening, he had picked me up and placed me on his shoulders. "Just what do you think you're doi-" My voice stopped dead. We were walking up the side of my house. Well, to be more exact, he was walking up the side of my house while I hung on to him for dear life.

"Were you trying to give me a heart attack?!" I hissed once we had reached solid, carpeted ground. So intent was I upon accosting the young man that it took several moments for me to notice that we weren't alone. "Why are there two of me in my bedroom?" My pseudo-twin sat there grinning like a Cheshire cat, which looked quite bizarre on my face.

"You can go home now, Naruto." The other me disappeared in a puff of smoke only to be replaced by the energetic blonde sitting cross-legged on my floor.

"Pretty good impression, huh, Ritz?" he asked with a cheeky grin. "Your Aunt didn't even realize that you were gone!" A split second later and he had disappeared out the window.

"I suppose I should start to expect the unexpected now," I giggled, momentarily forgetting about the day's troubles.

"You really should get to sleep. You've had a rough day, and it's not going to be much better from here on out." Talk about a harsh reality check.

"I'm going, I'm going," I muttered, opening my door with pajamas in hand to get changed and wash up. I walked back into my room a few minutes later wearing my pajamas, toothbrush still dangling from between my lips as I lobbed my disgustingly dirty clothes in the hamper, and almost choked. "Why are you still in my room?!" I demanded. Well, that was what I attempted to say at least. The almost choking, paired with trying to talk around my toothbrush and toothpaste while trying to cover my rather skimpy nightwear made it sound considerably less intelligible. He just raised one of his eyebrows and made a face at me. Oh, how infuriating he could be! I stalked silently out of the room, still fuming, and headed for the bathroom. First things first. I grabbed a plush robe and cinched it securely around my waist. That accomplished, I rinsed off my toothbrush, spit out the now stinging toothpaste, and resolutely made my way back to my bedroom.

Sure enough, he was still there, looking quite comfortable stretched out on my window seat as he stared out the window. "Now, I will ask again. What are you still doing in my room?"

"Watching you," he said simply, turning his attention back to me.

"Creepy much?"

"Look," he said with a sigh, "I don't like this any more than you do. Do you really think I want to be giving up my precious sleep time to babysit you? I know it's a drag, but until we can work out something better, this is what it's going to have to be like."

"Well, fine…" I replied lamely, my annoyance fading as I realized just how tired he must really be. Sure, I had spent the better part of the day being pursued by crazy kidnappers, but he had spent that same time protecting me from those aforementioned baddies. In retrospect, I guess I really had to be grateful for him, even if he was somewhat lacking in the manners department. "Well…uhm…goodnight, I guess," I said rather awkwardly as I clambered into bed after carefully discarding my robe. He didn't deign to reply and when I looked over, he was back to staring out the window. Well geez! At least I had made the effort to be nice, I suppose that counts for something. It didn't take me too long to fall asleep; it had been a rather tiring day after all. And as odd as it sounds, the last thing I remember doing before I fell asleep was looking at my wrist and thinking that I could still feel him tracing those relaxing little circles with his thumb.


	10. Chapter 10

I woke with a start and squinted at my alarm clock. It was only a little past 2 A.M., which meant I'd only slept for about two hours. Fantastic. I suppose it was foolish to think that the disconcerting dreams about shinobi would stop now that they were actually chasing me. I let out a small sigh as I thought about how tired I was going to be tomorrow…err…make that today, and turned to see how my 'babysitter' was doing.

Amazingly, he was still awake and was still sitting in the same position he had been in when I fell asleep two hours ago. He was sacrificing so much, just to make sure that I was safe. Aw heck, I may as well keep him company; it's not like I was getting back to sleep anytime soon anyway.

I tiptoed to where Shikamaru sat and situated myself at the opposite end of the plush window seat. "Bad dream?" he asked, not even turning to look at me. I nodded, knowing he could see the gesture reflected in the windowpane. It was pretty quiet after that, but it wasn't that really awkward kind of silence where people are trying to think of pointless small-talk to make. It was actually kind of comfortable sitting there, just the two of us.

Ugh! What was I thinking! I had sworn off guys and now here I was staring dreamily at Shikamaru!

"It must be difficult, being a shinobi," I remarked, grasping at the thought that I had been entertaining before Shikamaru had rudely imposed himself in my mind.

"It's not all fun and games, if that's what you mean."

"It just seems like you have to sacrifice so much. You have to be just as exhausted as I am, if not more so, but you haven't even slept a wink. And it's not like you get any real recognition for what you do, no matter how heroic the act. It seems like a pretty miserable way to live life at times."

He turned to look at me with what almost looked like curiosity in his eyes. "Being a shinobi isn't about being a hero; it's about carrying out your duty. It's not like chess, where everything is clear cut as black and white. There's often more gray areas than anything else." He shook his head. "Sometimes, it makes it really hard to follow orders, especially when you know that no victory comes without sacrifice."

"Why did you go against Tsunade's orders?" I asked, thinking back to the conversation I had overheard between the two.

"I didn't," he said, smirking. "I didn't tell you anything that you didn't already know or wouldn't have figured out on your own. Every rule has a loophole, just as every strategy has a flaw. You just have to find it and exploit it. That's one of the most basic laws of being a shinobi. That and," his eyes took on an odd look somewhere between amused and serious, "you get into enough trouble on your own. The last thing we needed was you attempting more 'investigating' and falling into enemy hands. As it is, looking after you is going to be a drag."

In that moment, my heart went out to him. I hopped off of the window seat and, before my sleepy brain could catch up with my actions, I walked over to the now silent ninja. "Thanks for being my hero yesterday, Shikamaru," I mumbled, planting a soft kiss on his cheek. That done, I made a beeline for my bed and buried myself beneath the covers, but not before I caught a barely audible statement of "troublesome woman" from the corner of the room.

***

I burrowed deeper into the blankets, trying to drown out that incessant beeping. I groaned and absent-mindedly swatted a hand at the annoyance, missing completely as my hand sailed through the air. Gosh, that beeping was really starting to get on my nerves.

Hold up.

Beeping? Like an alarm clock?

"I overslept!" I cried, throwing back the blankets and shooting to my feet, nearly knocking my bedside table over in the process. "What time is it?" I asked, hurriedly searching for a clean skirt and shirt to replace the filthy ones from yesterday.

"7:15."

"Why didn't you wake me up?!" I cried, rounding on the sleepy young man.

"It's Tue-"

I didn't wait to hear the end of his sentence before sprinting for the bathroom. Ten minutes later and I was back in my room showered, dressed, teeth brushed and hair combed. "Come on!" I yelled, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him with me as I tried to put my shoes on and scrambled for my glasses. A minute later and we were out the door and sprinting towards the garage. Well, I was sprinting. Shikamaru, on the other hand, was walking at a rather leisurely pace with his hands in his pockets. By the time he made it to the garage, I was already sitting on my bike, my fingers drumming impatiently against the throttle.

"Geez, calm down, Arista. We've still got plenty of time."

"It takes half an hour to get to the school and it's already twenty-five of!" I shouted, my voice sounding slightly hysterical.

Now would probably be a good time to mention that being late is one of my biggest hang-ups. 'To be early is to be on time. To be on time is too be late.' That's my motto. I just can't stand being late! Being late says so much about a person. Like that they think they're better than everybody else, are too lazy to get their butts in gear, or just plain old don't care. Actually, some of that sounds vaguely reminiscent of the person currently snoring behind me. Go figure.

Thankfully, there were no cops on the road and we skidded to a rough stop in the school parking lot twenty minutes later. Oh the joys of driving a motorcycle in heavy traffic. After an arduous sprint, and I only say arduous because I was partially dragging Shikamaru behind me, we burst through the door to Asuma's Physics room just as the clock struck 8.

Except…it was empty. No Asuma. No chattering students. No ridiculously difficult Physics problem scrawled across the board. No overwhelming aroma of smoke. "Where is everybody?" I asked, double-checking my watch and reaffirming that it was, indeed, 8 AM.

"I tried to tell you," Shikamaru sighed.

"Tried to tell me what?" I asked, rounding on him. "Was our class meeting somewhere else today?"

He let out another sigh as he leaned against the doorpost, fingers gently rubbing his temples. "It's Tuesday, Arista. We had Physics yesterday and won't have it again until tomorrow. I tried to tell you when you woke up but you were too busy freaking out about being late to listen."

"Tuesday?" I murmured, staring at him in disbelief. "Do you mean to tell that I woke up at 7:15, took the shortest shower of my life and risked getting a humungous speeding ticket on the way here and I don't have class until 1 PM!?"

Shikamaru just shrugged and began walking away from the classroom.

"Hey, where are you going?" I asked, re-shouldering my bag before following after the lethargic genius. "Or you could ignore me…" I muttered as I caught up to him. I could have sworn I saw a faint smirk tug at the corners of his mouth. "You're such a meanie, Shika!" I protested, jabbing him lightly in the arm.

The hint of a smirk disappeared from his face and was replaced with what was surely annoyance. "What did you just call me?"

"Shika!" I giggled, reveling in the look of growing annoyance on his face. "It's only fair," I continued as I followed him through the school grounds.

"How do you figure?" he asked, finally coming to a stop as he slumped down against a rather large tree. "Well, you call me Arista despite me telling you otherwise, which really kind of irks me."

"Arista is your name," he pointed out, closing his eyes as if that ended the conversation.

"But I don't like it!" I protested. He didn't deign to grace me with a verbal response, but I took his raised eyebrow as permission to continue with my rant. "Everybody thinks they know 'Arista Burana,'" I made little air quotes with my fingers, "because her face is plastered across the newspapers and God-knows-how-many websites. Everyone thinks they know everything about her just from the little blurbs they read. I started going by Ritz around my junior year of high school. It just felt more personal to be called by a nickname that the rest of the world didn't know. It helped me feel like a regular teenager again."

"And here I just thought you had an odd fascination with Ritz Crackers."

I let out a playful growl and lightly kicked his leg. He didn't even flinch. Ah well, at least that means I don't have to worry about accidentally hurting him. "I don't even really like Ritz Crackers all that much. It's just a cruel trick of fate that they happen to share my name. No, when I was little I couldn't say my name right and it always came out sounding like 'Rist.' It just kind of evolved from there." I shrugged nonchalantly.

"Still, Arista has a nice ring to it. Maybe you should just let people get to know the real Arista."

Was that a subtle come on? It was really impossible to tell as the enigmatic young genius was back to feigning sleep against the tree trunk.

I will never understand this boy. First, he treats me like I'm an annoying little kid, then he goes and rescues me and now he's giving me butterflies and sending me some very mixed signals. I let out a soft sigh as I plopped down next to Shika. Racing heartbeats, increased body temperature, butterflies in my stomach. This whole potentially crushing on Shikamaru thing just wasn't healthy at all.


	11. Chapter 11

[Author's Note] Well, it's certainly been awhile, hasn't it? If anyone is still reading this after my long absence, then please note that I deleted a few chapters and am revamping a few things. Hopefully this makes up for my extended disappearance? Maybe?

"So what are we doing today, oh great protector?" I asked, grinning brightly at the lethargic young man beside me. It was Saturday and Shikamaru had promised to introduce me to one of his favorite pastimes, although he had refused to comment on what that might be.

"Just be patient," he admonished, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets as we walked.

I was trying to be patient. I really was. But the longer we walked at his decrepit snail's pace, the harder it became to quell my enthusiasm. If this kept up much longer, I was sure to just die of anticipation right where I was standing. It was time to take matters into my own hands.

"Shikamaru," I whined, using the most annoying voice I could muster, "are we there yet?"

"Does it look like we're there yet, Arista?"

"I wouldn't know, since you refuse to tell me where we're going," I countered, flipping my hair over my shoulder. When he refused any further comment after several minutes, I tried a new tactic. "Shikamaru, how much longer 'til we get there?" I asked, still using that same wheedling tone. He didn't bother to grace my new attempt with so much as a look in my direction, but continued to walk on at his glacial pace.

The time to take drastic measures had come. No more Mr. Nice Guy, err...make that Ms. Nice Girl. With that determination in mind, I yanked Shikamaru's unresisting hand out of his pants pocket and marched decidedly onward. I made it several successful steps, mentally congratulating myself for my fantastic idea, before coming to a frustrated halt. It wasn't that I wanted to stop moving, it was just that it suddenly felt like I was trying to drag a lead weight behind me. I suppose it would have been too good to be true if he had actually consented to keep up with my pace.

"So troublesome," Shikamaru grumbled, tugging me backwards as easily as if I were a rag doll. "I suppose I'll just need to keep a tighter hold on you."

My snappy reply dissolved as rough fingers suddenly laced themselves with mine, effectively drawing me back to Shikamaru's slow-moving side. I took a furtive look at our linked hands, my cheeks coloring as we continued at our snail's pace. Suddenly, I wasn't in such a hurry to get to our mystery destination anymore.

Even though it had been a long walk, it seemed like it was over all too soon when Shikamaru's hand slipped from mine. He promptly situated himself beneath a tree and closed his eyes, his arms cushioning his head against the lush green grass. He was seriously the picture of lethargic perfection, right down to the soft snores already issuing from beneath the tree. Seriously, this guy can sleep anywhere.

I didn't come here to sleep, though. Nice setting aside, I can sleep the day away in my room. Can you say booo-riiiing? Shikamaru promised an afternoon filled with his favorite activities, and I absolutely refuse to accept sleeping as one of those activities, however true it may be.

"Shikamaru," I grumbled, nudging his side with my foot, "I'm bored. Entertain me."

No response.

I continued poking him with my foot until an irritated sigh escaped his lips. "Entertain yourself, troublesome woman."

"Rude!" I exclaimed, giving him a final deserved foot nudge before walking away to explore our little hideaway.

Shikamaru was out like a light by the time I finished a full circuit around the clearing. Seriously, this guy can sleep anywhere. It would be mildly impressive if it didn't make him the single most boring companion ever. I plopped down next to him with a sigh of defeat. If I can't beat him, I may as well join him, right?

I woke up with a yawn to the sun casting long shadows across the grove. My cat-nap had obviously lasted a bit longer than intended. I stretched my aching neck (trees don't really make the best pillows) and attempted to stand up to work out the kinks in my back, but something was keeping my firmly anchored to the ground. Come to think of it, there did seem to be a warm weight across my lap that wasn't there previously.

I could feel a traitorous blush spreading across my cheeks as further inspection found Shikamaru sprawled unceremoniously on the ground, his arm thrown across my legs and his head nestled in my lap. I let out a squeak and jerked backwards with a start.

Bad move. Remember how I said the tree made a bad pillow? Yeah. It wasn't any softer when I slammed the back of my head against it.

The abrupt motion must have jarred the aforementioned sleepyhead awake as he sat up with a huge yawn.

I'm fairly certain my face could have been mistaken for a tomato at this point, but he seemed unperturbed with our current predicament. My internal freak-out was interrupted by a rough hand pressing against my forehead.

"It doesn't feel like you have a fever, but you don't look well at all. Are you feeling alright, Arista?" His face was so close to mine that I could feel his breath tickling against my cheek.

If I had been thinking, I would have passed my flushed face off as sunburn and left it at that. But, chalk it up to my recent head trauma, a still slightly sleep-addled brain or the rush of dastardly female hormones at Shikamaru's sudden closeness, I did the unthinkable. I kissed him.

I pulled back almost as suddenly as I had closed the distance between us. "I'm so sorry!" I gasped. "I didn't...I mean, I did...I just...Argh!" I choked off my rapid flow of words before I made things any more awkward than they already were.

The look on his face was impossible to read, but I certainly didn't expect him to murmur "Troublesome woman" and kiss me back. And yet, that's exactly what he did. His lips were soft and molded perfectly against mine as his hands dropped to encircle my waist and pull me closer.

Suddenly, watching the clouds didn't seem like such an awful activity anymore.


	12. Chapter 12

Everything had been going so well. Shikamaru and I had been spending so much time together, and part of me really believed that it wasn't just because he was supposed t be protecting me from every potential threat that could come my way. Too bad protecting my heart had been conveniently left off of his list of duties.

… Yeah, I know. That sounds terribly cliché. But sadly, I, like any other soon to be nineteen year old female, am prone to being emotional at times. I'm human. So sue me. But I digress. Back to my current plight. Shikamaru, in the detached, methodic manner that only he is capable of using, told me that "we can't do this anymore."

That was it. He dropped the bombshell and walked away, leaving me to deal with the aftershock.

Needless to say, I was a wreck. It's not like we had actually been dating, but that didn't make it hurt any less. The time we had spent together (and the occasional bit of kissing!) after he saved me had brought us so much closer together. At least, I thought it had.

Obviously, Shikamaru hadn't felt quite the same.

He could've at least given me some stupid reason. That would have at least given me something to work with. But no, he just left it at that one sentence, which has done nothing but torment me since then. All I can think about is what could have caused him to break things off like that.

It's only been a little over a day, but I feel like I haven't slept for a month. I probably looked like a zombie as I trudged slowly through downtown Konoha. My hair was pulled back and messy, my clothes were rumpled and I'm pretty sure my eyes were tinged red. Sadly, I had been forced to leave my shut-in of a room to replenish my now empty supply of comfort food, i.e., beef ramen. The seven bowls I had already eaten paired with my lack of movement lately were anything but healthy, but at this point, I didn't care.

The littlest things reminded me of him, and it was just making things more painful to have to live next door to him and know that I wouldn't see him. I just wish there was something to take my mind off of him.

And then, suddenly, it hit me. Literally.

"I'm really terribly sorry! Here, let me help you up!" A strong hand tugged me to my feet and remained at my elbow, making sure that I stayed steady after my tumble. "I really should learn to watch where I'm going," he continued, "but sometimes I just get so caught up in what I'm reading…"

Gosh, he has such pretty blue eyes. And such wavy blonde hair. My goodness, talk about well-built bodies! I mean, I know some of the guys at school are attractive, but he is just so gorgeo-

Why is he staring at me like that? Ohmygoodness I look like a complete and total bum! He probably thinks I'm some gross girl who doesn't shower and hides in the basement all day! What am I going to say? Say? His lips are moving! Has he been talking this entire time?

"-not speak English?" He was looking at me with a rather odd mixture of sympathy and confusion written across his face.

"You speak English?" Wow, Ritz, brilliant. As if the blank stare hadn't been bad enough…

"Quite well, actually," he replied, still chuckling a bit. "And judging from your accent, I would have to guess that you're from America."

"That's pretty impressive," I chided, trying valiantly to hide not only my previous embarrassment but also my growing blush as well.

He shrugged the compliment off. "Why don't you let me carry your things for you, to make up for knocking you over," he asked, picking my bags up before I even gave him an answer.

"You're probably going to think this is absurd," he suddenly said, "but I can't help but feel that I've seen you before. Do you by any chance play the violin?"

I tripped over thin air and would have fallen flat on my face if he hadn't caught me. Talk about quick reflexes.

"I'm sorry, I know that must have sounded silly. It was foolish of me to think that just because you looked like her…"

"Look like who?" I asked, curiosity piqued.

"Well," he looked slightly embarrassed now, "it's just that you remind me forcibly of Arista Burana, that American violinist."

I stopped walking to prevent myself from tripping again. "Actually, I prefer being called Ritz," I said, trying to laugh off my discomfiture.

Now it was his turn to do a double-take. "You're really her? This is incredible! I'm a huge fan of yours!"

"You're a fan? Of me?" I must have looked utterly bewildered, standing on the pavement with a dumbfounded look on my face as I pointed to myself.

He chuckled at the perplexed look on my face. "You may not have realized it, but you're turning into quite the local celebrity, especially after that article in the Tokyo Times. After the praise in that article, most music circles are buzzing with anticipation about your concert this winter."

I paused to think for a second. I didn't think that my concert was being publicized yet, but maybe I had just missed the press release. It's not like I made a habit of reading the daily papers.

"Is this your house?"

His voice snapped me out of my reflection and, sure enough, we were right in front of my house. The question of how he had known it was my house flitted out of my mind when he gingerly kissed my hand and said that he hoped we would get to meet again. Before my flustered mind could conjure up a response he was gone.

A week later, my mystery man, who introduced himself as Kenji, treated me to lunch at the local ramen shop, a logical choice given how much ramen I had been carrying when we first met. It wouldn't have been my first choice of locations, given how many of my classmates tended to frequent the place, but with any luck they would all be off doing ninja things far, far away.

Luck seemed to be with me as Kenji and I sat down in a corner with our steaming bowls of ramen uninterrupted. The minor victory was short-lived, however, as a boisterous interruption presented itself.

"Hey, Ritz! I haven't seen you here in awhile!" Naruto exclaimed, appearing suddenly at the end of our booth. "But hey, who's this guy? Isn't Shikamaru with you? Come to think of it, I haven't seen you and Shikamaru together at all la-"

"That's enough, Naruto!" I snapped, my temper flashing in irritation. "I'm sorry," I apologized a moment later, seeing the offended look on his face. "I just really don't want to talk about it right now, alright?"

"Sure, Ritz. I'll just leave you to your lunch," he mumbled, walking away looking every part the sad puppy dog.

"Was that a friend of yours?" Kenji asked, drawing my attention back to present.

"He's a classmate of mine. Nice kid, but not exactly the most observant or tactful."

Kenji fiddled with his chopsticks for a few moments before continuing. "You seemed pretty upset at the mention of that Shikamaru guy..." His voice trailed off as if he were waiting for me to steer the conversation from there.

"He was a...friend of mine," I murmured, staring dejectedly into my bowl, "but we don't really spend time together anymore and I don't know why." I stabbed at my noodles in frustration. I hadn't really talked to anyone else about what had happened, so finally getting at least a bit of it off my chest felt mildly therapeutic.

"Well, if you ask me, any guy who doesn't want to be with you is crazy. You're a real catch, Ritz. Brains and beauty all rolled into one."

Now normally, something like that wouldn't have affected me. But after my unexplained emotional distancing from Shikamaru, the attention was more than welcome. Besides, where was the harm in having a bit of fun?

"I just don't like the idea of you running around with some guy you barely know."

"And I don't like the idea of you interfering in my personal life!"

"I'm supposed to be protecting you. It's my job to interfere if it threatens your safety."

"I wasn't aware that casually seeing someone was a cause for concern."

"Arista, he knew exactly who you were and where you lived. Pair that with the fact that he knew you would be playing a concert this winter, which has not been publicized yet I might add, and the odds don't stack up in his favor. Have you ever stopped and noticed that while you provide him with detailed information, all he ever gives you are vague answers?"

My fiery reply died in my throat. "Have you been _spying_ on me, Shikamaru?"

"I was doing my job," he countered, "which unfortunately includes following you on all your little escapades. I don't think you understand how painful it is to watch you fall for someone who only wants to use you!" His voice actually quivered with a hint of emotion with that last outburst, but the fact that he may have been hurting never registered as I charged relentlessly on.

"If you were 'just doing your job,'" I air quoted, "then we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. If you were 'just doing your job,' you would stay hidden in the shadows, spy on me and never say a word to me about it. Just where do you get off disappearing from my life only to reappear and tell me what I should and shouldn't be doing? The only reason you're saying something now is because you can't stand the fact that I'm focusing my attention on Kenji. Why don't you do us both a favor and go back to being a good little ninja and go back to not caring about me beyond your job!"

I could tell it was a mistake as soon as I saw the hurt look flash in his chocolaty eyes. Before I could open my mouth again, however, he was gone.


	13. Chapter 13

I leaned back and settled against the tree trunk behind me, feeling the rough bark pressing against my back. It was a balmy October day and I was spending it by sitting by myself in the park, watching the clouds. It's odd, really. A few months ago, I never would have envisioned myself sitting alone and watching the clouds trace sluggish paths across the sky. And yet here I was, staring up at the sky and trying to pick out the various shapes formed by the puffy white masses. It really was a calming pastime, so it finally made sense why he swore by it.

I turned my attention back to the clouds, determined to keep my mind occupied with something trivial. Thankfully, two little clouds chose that moment to play a lazy game of tag across the otherwise clear sky. The second one finally overtook its companion and they meshed together, forming a lopsided heart that continued to drift across my field of vision. I would have said it was the perfect aerial display, but sadly, it was short-lived. A small dart-shaped cloud butted its way into the picture perfect scene and turned the heart into an unrecognizable mass of white.

Story of my life. Every time something seemed to be going well with a guy, it crashed and burned. Which, of course, brings us to the reason I was sitting in the park by myself watching the clouds. Ever since that short and not-so-satisfactory talk with Shikamaru, I hadn't seen hide nor hair of him outside of school. He still sat next to me in our classes together, but the silence was almost painful and the knowledge that I had caused things to be like this was so unbearable that I almost wished I could distance myself from him physically.

The only times that I really seemed to be able to get Shikamaru out of my head were when I was spending time with Kenji. Ever since the day we had run into each other (literally) downtown, he had been there for me as a friend. He was always willing to listen to me wallow in self-pity and act as a sounding board for my very mixed up emotions. It was strange, really, that someone I had met just a few weeks ago would turn into such a close confidant. Granted, that wasn't helping my situation with Shikamaru since he didn't approve of my new found friendship…

"You really need to stop isolating yourself, Ritz," came a deep voice by my side. "It's not going to help if you sit here and sulk."

I hastily wiped at my eyes before turning to face the young man beside me. "Hey, Kenji," I said, managing a shaky smile. "How've you been?"

"I think I'm the one who's supposed to be asking you that," he replied with a sad smile. "How have you been holding up?"

"Well, I've managed to avoid bursting into hysterical tears at school," I answered with a weak chuckle. "We're still not speaking to one another, though," I said more somberly.

"Maybe it would be best to just move on, Ritz. This whole thing is obviously making you miserable and it's a shame to see such a pretty girl wearing a frown. I hate seeing you so depressed," he finished, brushing a stray hair out of my face.

"I still want to be his friend if nothing else, Kenji. Not talking to him is bad enough. I can't even begin to imagine cutting him out of my life completely." Odd as that may sound, it was true. Despite our rocky beginnings, Shikamaru had become a part of my life that I wasn't ready to lose.

"I just don't get it, Ritz. After everything you've told me over the past few weeks, I would think you would want nothing more than to forget about him!"

"You wouldn't understand," I murmured, drawing my knees up to my chest. "He's always been there for me. He's like my own personal hero. Even now, despite everything that's happened, I know that if I really needed him, he'd be there to save me."

"Save you? You sound as if you're being hunted or something," Kenji laughed. He sobered instantly, however. "I would treat you so much better than he does, if only you would let me prove it to you." His thumb brushed against my cheek as he moved to cup my face in his hand.

I'm sure my face must have registered my shock. I had suspected that Kenji might be harboring some more-than-platonic feelings for me, but, living in my own little world the past few weeks, the idea that he would actually act on those feelings had never occurred to me. We had stumbled across each other by chance and had felt an instant connection; him due to being a fan of mine and me because of the emotional turmoil I was going through. Beyond our first chance meeting, I had never really thought of him as anything but a friend, despite the harsh words that I had thrown in Shikamaru's face, but apparently I was alone in that thought. Don't get me wrong, he was a very attractive young man. He had thick, blond hair and blue eyes that just drew you in and made you feel at home. And sure, we had been spending a lot of time together, seeing the occasional movie and hanging out, but I had never anticipated it turning into something serious. I had been in a time of emotional need and he had been a welcome change from being miserable by myself. I believe the technical term is the "rebound guy."

"Please, Arista, just give me a chance," he murmured, drawing closer to me. His face was now so close to my own that I could feel his breath against my lips, could feel his hair brushing against my burning cheeks. My heart was hammering in my chest but still, something was gnawing away at me inside. The closer his lips got to mine, the more I envisioned a pair of chocolaty brown eyes and spiky brown hair.

"I'm sorry, Kenji," I stammered, hurriedly turning away, "but I can't do this. It doesn't feel right."

"It's because you're still thinking about him, isn't it? Just forget about him, Arista! He probably never cared about you, anyway."

I rose to my feet and backed away, staring at my red and stinging hand in partial shock and confusion. Had I really just slapped him? I didn't even remember raising my hand, but I must have. The now numbing sensation in my palm and the red, hand-shaped imprint on his right cheek were proof enough of that.

"You don't have any right to say that!" I said, regaining my composure as Kenji rose to his feet. "I know that deep down, Shikamaru really cares about me." My mind flitted back to when he had saved me from those shinobi in the forest, had sat by my side in the school infirmary, had sacrificed his much needed night's sleep to watch over me while I rested. To our delightful afternoon in that clearing. "I know he does," I repeated more quietly, reaffirming the idea to myself. "If anything, I'm the one who treated him poorly. He was just trying to look out for me…"

"Arista, stop trying to fool yourself! He-"

"Stop calling me Arista!" I demanded, my voice sounding more firm than I would have thought possible.

"You don't seem to mind when Shikamaru calls you Arista," he observed, his voice taking on a cynical tone.

"How would you know that?" I asked, taking another step back. "I never once mentioned that he calls me Arista. In fact," I pressed on, my mind reeling back to the last disastrous conversation I had had with Shikamaru, "you seem to have known a lot of things about me that you shouldn't. Shikamaru was right; I never should have trusted you in the first place! I should have believed him," I murmured more quietly than my last outburst, fresh tears beginning to well up in my eyes.

Kenji let out a deep laugh, his face contorting into a sickening look of success. "That's the beauty of silly little girls like you, though! A pretty face and a few sweet words and they're willing to throw everything away for you. Did you never stop to think that it may be dangerous to trust me so quickly? That maybe it was no mere coincidence that I happened to find you when you were emotionally vulnerable? You were such a foolish girl, so easy for the picking! And now," he began moving toward me as I stepped back, "you'll be coming with me!"

This was it. I was completely and utterly trapped. Sure, I was in the middle of a deserted park with plenty of room to run, but let's be realistic here. Did I really stand any chance of out-running a shinobi? No. I don't think I can even begin to describe the terrible feeling of seeing freedom all around you but knowing that it's outside of your reach. His hands clenching my upper arms felt like shackles, chaining me to the inevitable fact that I had screwed up big time and was about to pay for it dearly. But then, something unexpected happened.

Almost as quickly as his hands latched onto me, he released me. It made no sense, and yet there he was, standing in front of me not making a move to recapture me, even as I slowly began backing away. Now that I stopped and looked at him more closely, however, his entire body was shaking, as if he were straining against some invisible force.

My relief was short-lived, however, as the leaves in the tree behind me rustled and someone landed behind me with a dull thud. Before I knew what was happening I felt something plow into my abdomen and heard the wind rushing past my ears. Scenery was flying by at an alarming rate, but it was nothing compared to how fast my mind was whirring.

I was currently sitting atop Naruto's shoulders, clinging on to him for dear life as we hurtled through the treetops. Choji leapt from branch to branch beside us, glancing over his shoulder every few minutes as if he were looking for something.

None of this made any sense at all. Oh sure, I knew now that the freight train that had plowed into me in the clearing had been Naruto grabbing me, but that didn't help to fill in any of the gaps. How had Naruto and Choji known where I was? And why had Kenji just stopped moving like that? It just didn't make sense that he would pause and give my saviors the opportunity they needed to rescue me.

"We're almost there, Ritz. Just hang on a little longer."

Choji's voice broke me out of my musings as we continued to fly between the trees. I tried to ask where we were going, but my voice refused to cooperate so I simply nodded my head instead.

Five minutes later, we arrived at Shikamaru's house and hurried inside. It was certainly less dramatic of an escape than I had anticipated, but it made sense that I would be taken to a house full of shinobi.

Yoshino's voice floated from one of the adjacent rooms as we entered the house. "Shikamaru, is that you? You're certainly home l-"" Her voice stopped short as her head poked around the doorframe and she took stock of the situation in her living room. "What happened?" she asked, her voice taking on a no-nonsense tone.

"I-I was out in the p-park and…""I was shocked not only by the noticeable tremble in my voice, but also by the tears that had begun to leak out of the corners of my eyes.

"They tried to kidnap her again," Choji explained.

Yoshino nodded in understanding and began barking orders. "Choji, Naruto, you two take Ritz upstairs and try and calm her down. Shikaku!" A gruff grunt answered her shout from some other room in the house. She said something about fabricating a reason for my aunt to stay at the Naval base for the next few days, but that was all I could make out as we ascended the stairs and entered the second room on the right.

"Naruto, I'll stay and watch her. You head back and help Shikamaru in case that guy had reinforcements waiting," Choji said as the blond deposited me on the bed.

"Shikamaru is still back there?" I asked once Naruto had leapt out the nearby window.

Choji nodded. "He's the reason we were able to rescue you in time. If Shikamaru hadn't been keeping an eye on you-"

"He was spying on me again?" My temper started to rise again, even though I knew if he hadn't been I would've been a goner.

Choji shook his head in response. "He's just trying to watch out for you, Ritz. He's had a bad feeling about Kenji since the day he showed up. He saw how happy you were around him, though, so he didn't want to do anything until he was absolutely sure."

"But why would he even bother after what I said to him?" I asked, cheeks flaming as I remembered the harsh things I had said to him only a few weeks ago.

When Choji didn't respond immediately I looked up from my feet and gave him a long look. It looked like he was debating whether to say something or not. "I'm not sure if I should be the one to tell you this or not, and I know Shikamaru wouldn't want me to, but…" He paused again as I stared at him, my curiosity piqued. "Shikamaru really cares about you, Ritz. He's just not good at showing it. He's been watching after you ever since that incident in the forest to make sure nothing happened to you."

"But then why did he tell me that we couldn't be together anymore?" I queried.

"That's a question that you need to ask him, Ritz. For now, why don't you try and get some sleep," Choji suggested, taking a seat in an empty chair. "I'll stay here and keep watch."

I nodded glumly as I settled myself on the plush bed. I was out almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.


	14. Chapter 14

I turned onto my side restlessly as the soft hum of voices interrupted my sleep. As they became more distinct, one voice in particular roused me from my slumber faster than anything else could have. "Shikamaru?" I mumbled, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

The quiet conversation with Choji died out as he turned to regard me. He had a few scrapes and bruises that I could see, but aside from those he looked thankfully unharmed. Tears started leaking out of the corners of my eyes again as I threw myself at him. He didn't return the embrace, but it didn't matter at that point. He was safe and sound standing right in front of me and that was all it took to unleash a fresh flood of tears.

"I'll just leave you two alone, then," Choji said, disappearing out the nearest window.

We stood like that for what seemed like an eternity, my arms thrown around Shikamaru as I sobbed into his chest, his arms hanging stiffly by his side as he clenched and unclenched his fists. "I'm sorry," I murmured once my torrential tears had slowed. "I'm so sorry."

"He tricked you. That's not something that you need to apologize for."

"That...that's not what I meant!" I hiccupped. "I said such terrible things to you and didn't trust you. I was afraid that I was going to lose you..."

A few tense moments passed in silence before he gently extricated himself from my arms. "Arista, you need to understand that we can't be together."

"Why not?" I demanded, temper flaring despite the tears still working their way down my cheeks. "If you weren't interested, then how do you explain what happened last month? I thought we were getting so much closer, but then you just severed things like it was the simplest thing in the world! I felt so alone..." The rest of my words disappear in another bout of muffled tears.

"Easy? You think it was any easier for me than it was for you? It was the most painful thing I've ever had to do. The initial separation was bad enough, but then watching how it affected you, seeing how much pain you were in...it was almost unbearable."

"But then why-"

"Because I was falling in love with you! And it was painfully obvious that you were harboring the same feelings. That was the last thing that I wanted to happen..." My face must have registered my shock as I dropped back onto the bed.

"Shikamaru, I-"

"Don't you understand how miserable being with someone like me would make you? I can never guarantee that I'll come back from a mission alive. Even now, look how sick you were with worry! I would never be able to live with myself, knowing how upset you would be if something were to happen to me. You deserve someone who will always be around to make you happy, Arista."

I rose to shaky legs as a million thoughts swirled around in my head. He broke things off because he didn't want me to get hurt? If it hadn't had the complete opposite effect, then I would have said it was a touching and noble gesture. "Shikamaru, you're so...so selfish! That's not a decision that you get to make on your own!"

"Arista-"

"No! Let me finish! Don't you think that I understood the risks of being involved with you? It's not like I was walking into this blindly! Sure, there will be times that I'll be worried, but that's nothing compared to how heart-broken I would be without you in my life. I love you, and there's no way that I'm accepting some stupid, self-sacrificing excuse-"

Shikamaru's lips crashed against mine, effectively cutting off the rest of my tirade. "You're so stubborn," he chastised once we broke apart for air.

"Is that a problem?" I asked, nuzzling my head against his chest.

"No. Oddly enough, it's actually one of your more endearing qualities," he laughed, wrapping his arms more tightly around my waist. "I missed you," he confessed after a few moments of silence.

"Aww, you missed lil' ol' troublesome me?" I chided.

He hmphed something that sounded suspiciously like "troublesome woman," which caused me to let out a small giggle.

"Shikamaru, are you in here?" Yoshino's voice floated in from out in the hallway. Her head popped around the now open door a minute later and a small smile spread across her face as she saw us both still wrapped in each other's arms in the center of the room. "Your father and I have arranged for Ritz to stay here for awhile. If that's alright with you, dear, of course," she said, turning to me. I nodded my assent quickly. "Why don't you take her back to her house to get whatever she'll need until things have blown over."

"Yoshino?" I asked, causing her to turn as she headed out the door. "What's going to happen to my aunt? She doesn't know what's been going on and I wouldn't want anything to happen to her if they come after me again."

"Shikaku has already taken care of that. Your aunt is going to be staying on the naval base for a bit. He told her that the house had to be fumigated or something ridiculous like that. Anyway, we assured her that you would be well taken care of until she could come back."

I murmured my thanks as she left before returning my attention to Shikamaru. "Well then, shall we go? I could certainly stand a change of clothes right now.

He scooped me up bridal style and moved towards his open window. "Hang on." That was the only warning I received before we left out the window. As unnerving as our departure was, I think I could get used to this form of transportation.

A second later and we landed lightly on the carpeted floor of my bedroom. I grabbed the biggest duffel bag I could find and loaded it up with the necessary clothes and toiletries, hoisted my backpack over my shoulder and grabbed my pillow from my bed. I was giving my room one last scan to make sure I had everything when my eyes snagged on a glaringly empty space on the top shelf of my closet.

"My violin!" I nearly shrieked, dropping everything in my hands as I rushed to the closet and began desperately rummaging through the mess. The sound of deep laughter reverberated from behind me, causing me to whip around furiously. "Shikamaru, this isn't funny! My violin is-" ... "-in your hand. Not funny!" I pouted, trudging to pick up everything that I had dropped in my panic. "I'm ready!" I declared once my arms were overflowing again and in the blink of an eye we were airborne for the second time.

By the time we landed back in Shikamaru's room, Yoshino had set up the guest room across the hall for me to stay in. I decided that unpacking could wait, because the bed looked entirely too inviting to turn down at this point. I bid Shikamaru a good night (with a good night kiss, of course!) and zonked out as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I woke up with a start, cold sweat prickling on my skin. Just what I didn't need right now, another new shinobi centered nightmare plaguing my sleep. I slipped out of bed and softly padded across the hall to Shikamaru's room, venturing a quiet peek around the door.

"Couldn't sleep?"

I had assumed that the lethargic genius would have been asleep at this hour, so Shikamaru's question nearly caused me to jump out of my skin.

"I had another nightmare," I admitted, seating myself on the edge of his bed once I'd gotten over my shock.

"Troublesome woman, I'll never get any sleep at this rate." I was about to protest that the nightmares were hardly my fault when I felt strong arms wrap around my waist and pull me down on the bed. "Sleep," Shikamaru ordered, pulling me in to his chest as his breathing almost instantly slowed.

Normally, I wouldn't be okay with being man-handled and ordered around by a guy, but I think that I'll let it pass just this once.


	15. Chapter 15

Since my last encounter with enemy shinobi could have ended rather disastrously, Shikamaru decided that it was time that I started to familiarize myself a bit more with the strange new world I was living in. Granted, Tsunade still hadn't okayed any of this, so I was forced to hide my observations from her, which is how I came to be in my current situation: watching my less than normal classmates beating the snot out of each other in gym class perched in the shadowy branches of a large oak tree. Their barbarity was all in good fun and under Gai-sensei's very enthusiastic supervision, of course!

The class had started off normally enough (well, at least what passed for normal in this place). My classmates were jumping around the crazy obstacle course like super-humans while Gai-sensei yelled something that must have passed for encouragement in his book, but sounded more like the ravings of a youth obsessed mad man.

Watching everyone's crazy antics had been fairly entertaining, but things finally heated up when Ino and Sakura got into a raging debate over something stupid relating to Sasuke. Before the altercation got too out of hand (because apparently shattering a tree with a single punch is not a cause for alarm), Gai-sensei decided that this was the perfect opportunity for some practice matches.

"Wah! How did she do that?" I cried, jumping in my perch as Sakura punched the ground, causing a gaping fissure to open. I turned to my companion when I didn't receive a response and, surprise surprise, he was sleeping. "Shikamaru, how am I supposed to learn anything if you keep falling asleep!" I demanded, shaking the snoozing shinobi. He responded with an incoherent grumble (I'm fairly certain that I'm safe in assuming it translated to 'troublesome woman') and a lazy hand swat before sitting up with a yawn.

He took a few moments to observe the scene below us before responding. "Sakura's one of the best in our class at focusing her chakra. Her fighting style involves focusing a large amount of chakra into her fists, multiplying her destructive force exponentially."

"I don't think I would want to get hit with that," I said, face blanching. "But if her punches are so powerful, then why is she keeping such a big distance between her and Ino?" Maybe I was missing something, but powerhouse punches didn't seem very effective if you weren't within striking range of your opponent.

"She doesn't want to get within range of Ino's jutsu," Shikamaru answered. Before I could ask what was so terrible about her jutsu, Ino suddenly collapsed against a tree and Sakura's crazy punching stopped abruptly. "Like that," he said. Suddenly, Sakura began doing a rather bizarre, albeit hilarious, dance before raising her hand high in the air to indicate that she was withdrawing from the match, making Ino the de facto winner.

"That was Ino's 'Mind Body Transfer Technique,'" Shikamaru explained, seeing the perplexed look on my face. "Basically, she forces her way into the target's mind and takes over. It's kind of like her normal personality, only a lot more invasive."

"That's...mildly terrifying," I replied. The thought of Ino suddenly appearing in my head and commandeering my thoughts was enough to make me shudder.

I felt a slight stirring of the branch I was sitting on and turned to see that Shikamaru was plummeting to the ground at breakneck speed. This frightening move proved to be no cause for alarm, as he landed as gracefully as a cat before moving to take his place in the makeshift arena.

That's odd. I can't really think that the ever lazy Shikamaru would voluntarily jump into a battle when he could be relaxing in the shade of a tree. A cursory inspection of the grounds allayed my confusion when I saw Gai-sensei holding up two large posters, one emblazoned with a chibi Shikamaru, the other with a rather canine caricature of Kiba. That would explain his sudden departure, but I can help but be more than a little curious as to why Gai-sensei had posters of each of his students.

...on second thought, that's not really a question I want to hear the answer to.

I turned my attention back to the matter at hand, preferring watching Shikamaru fight to musing about Gai-sensei's rather odd possessions. I must admit, I was rather excited to watch Shikamaru in action. Despite the numerous times he had rescued me, I still didn't have the faintest clue what he was actually capable of. I mean, obviously he must be amazing, given his current success record, but the prospect of seeing him with my own eyes had my attention glued to the ground below.

As soon as Gai-sensei's huge flag dropped (seriously, where does he keep getting these things?), shouts erupted from the assembled students as the two shinobi leapt into action. Shikamaru disappeared in an explosion of smoke just as Kiba and Akamaru lunged towards him. When the smoke cleared, all that remained was a perplexed looking canine duo; Shikamaru had inexplicably disappeared.

Now where could he have gone? I wondered, eying the expanse of trees surrounding the arena speculatively. Kiba seemed to harbor the same question, as he and Akamaru sat on their haunches sniffing the air. While I'm sure his finely tuned sniffer was quite helpful, it made for quite the hilarious image and I couldn't help but let out a quiet chuckle.

Akamaru suddenly let out a loud bark directed at copse of trees to the left while Kiba looked around questioningly. Something had the super sniffers confused about Shikamaru's hiding spot. A rustle in the branches to the left caused Akamaru to spring to action, hurtling into the shadows with incredible speed. In the same instant, a flurry of kunai shot out of the trees, pinning a cursing Kiba to a nearby tree trunk by his shirt. A shadow crept out from the shade created by the overhanging leaves, abruptly stopping Kiba's frantic struggling when it connected to his own long shadow. Its advance continued as it moved up his body, taking on the form of a shadowy hand as it slithered its way ever closer to his throat.

"I give up!" he yelled, just before the insubstantial hand reached its destination. The shadows flowed away from him in an instant as a shirtless, mud-covered Shikamaru emerged from his cover in the trees while a dejected looking Akamaru slunk out from the copse he had disappeared into earlier with a tattered t-shirt between his teeth.

"What exactly did you do?" I asked, once Shikamaru had returned to our perch in the treetops. "I mean, I didn't even see you after you disappeared in that puff of smoke until Kiba gave up! What happened to Akamaru in the trees? Were those shadow things yours?"

"One question at a time, Arista. Geez."

I gave him my best puppy-dog eyes and a small pout before he let out a heavy sigh.

"You know, if you over-use that, I'm going to become immune to it eventually."

"Doubtful!" I giggled, leaning over and kissing him on the nose. I let out a squeal of indignation as he suddenly pulled me onto his lap. "Ew! Shika, you're all dirty!" I cried, scrunching up my nose in disgust at the mud now smeared on my uniform.

"Oh, so you don't like dirty?" he teased, guiding my face closer to his.

"No more kisses for you until you answer my questions!" I decreed, pulling back and waggling a finger in his face.

"Manipulative extortionist."

"Whatever gets the job done."

He sighed again before moving his hands down to my waist. "I set off a smoke bomb as soon as the battle started and used it as a cover to escape to the trees so that I would have time to think. Kiba and Akamaru together are a dangerous combination, so I knew I had to separate them somehow. They both rely heavily on scent for tracking, so I used my shirt as bait to lure one of them away and covered myself in mud so that my scent wouldn't be as noticeable. I set up a trigger wire by my trap so that whoever came near it would get caught by my shadow shuriken. Once Akamaru was out of the way, I pinned Kiba with my Shadow Possession and was in the process of using the Shadow Strangle when he gave up. He knew he couldn't win; it was a good choice on his part."

"You planned all of that _and_ set it up that quickly?" I queried. I knew the boy was smart, but damn.

"I'm kind of a genius, in case you haven't noticed," he quipped. "Now then, I believe you owe me a kiss since I answered your barrage of questions."

"Hmm...I suppose that I could spare a kiss or two for my brilliant strategist, even if you are in desperate need of a shower." I closed the gap between us and wrapped my arms around his neck. To heck with getting my uniform dirty. It had been through worse and there was just something wonderfully romantic about locking lips while perched high in the treetops.

Sadly, the moment was interrupted by a chorus of cat-calls from below us. This wouldn't have been quite so awful if Gai-sensei's voice couldn't be heard proclaiming something about the 'beauty of youth' to everyone in the immediate vicinity.

"What a drag. Can't a guy get a moment of peace around this place?"

"Kind of doubtful, given the crowd. We could always go somewhere a little more private," I suggested, trailing my finger down his bare chest.

"Good idea. I could go for a nap. Let's go home."

I just shook my head at his total mood reversal. That was Shikamaru for you, though. I suppose there would time for more fun after he snoozed for a few hours.

I turned onto my side and swatted my hand fitfully. Something kept tickling my face, but I'll be darned if I was going to let it interrupt my nap. I'd never been much of a daytime napper before, but I'm pretty firmly convinced that Shikamaru's lethargy was contagious.

"And you call me lazy?" chided a teasing voice at my ear.

The persistent tickling continued, moving to my jaw line and down my neck. My eyes shot open when the soft presence disappeared and was replaced by a quick nip at the junction of my neck and shoulder.

"Shikamaru, what are you doing?" I gasped, finally roused completely out of sleep.

He paused from his kisses and nips long enough to say "Waking you up," as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, before resuming his ministrations.

"And to think I used to use an alarm clock! Silly me," I laughed, threading my fingers through Shikamaru's dark hair and guiding his lips back to mine.


	16. Chapter 16

**[A/N] Well, we're getting down to the wire here. I think this should be wrapped up within another chapter or two! Please let me know what you've thought of the story to this point!**

"No, absolutely not! The risk is way too high!"

"I'm more than willing to take that risk! You know none of the other plans so far have been as good as this one!"

"Arista, there is no way that I'm allowing to use yourself as bait!"

"It's _my _choice, Shikamaru!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in exasperation. "It's clearly the best way-"

"Naruto could just as easily disguise himself as you. He's done it before. He's a trained shinobi and any altercations would put him in far less danger than they would you."

"Oh yes, because clearly the highly trained enemy shinobi who have extensively studied my background won't notice that I suddenly have whiskers on my face! Or that I inexplicably lost the ability to play the violin right before my big concert! Yes, this seems like a grand idea, Shikamaru! I'm sure everyone will believe it without a single doubt in their mind! I'm willing to take the risk to catch them! Why aren't you willing to support me?"

"Because you're my girlfriend, Arista! There is absolutely no way that I can approve a plan that puts you in an incredible amount of danger!"

Our argument had come to a standstill. Again. My arms were planted on my hips as I glared daggers at Shikamaru while he returned the furious look with arms folded across his chest. We had been going back and forth like this for the past few hours, and honestly, I didn't see any conclusion in sight. We were both stubborn to a fault.

Part of me did feel bad for our small band of recruits, however. We had quietly assembled a group to handle the mission, and they currently sat on the floor of Shikamaru's living room for what had started as a strategy meeting, but had devolved into a very volley between Shikamaru and myself.

"Just let her do it already!" Temari exclaimed, finally losing her patience. "If she's brave enough to act as bait, then you need to be man enough to accept that." There was a few murmurs of assent from those assembled, which only served to aggravate Shikamaru further.

"Tch. If you're all so set upon this, then go ahead. But I won't be a part of it." With that, he stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind him, causing it to rattle in its frame.

"I think that's enough for today, everyone," I sighed, casting a concerned glance at the abused door. "We've obviously hit a stumbling block and I'd rather not continue making plans without Shikamaru. We'll let you know when our next get-together will be."

My classmates started making their way to the door, most stopping to offer a last minute suggestion or advice.

"See ya in a few days, Ritz," Kiba said, stopping to drop a reassuring hand on my shoulder before heading outside to rejoin Akamaru.

"He'll come around eventually." Choji was the last person left and stood poised by the door. "He can't deny that it's the best plan we've got. He just needs some time to get used to the idea."

I murmured a word of thanks before he too left, leaving me by myself in our impromptu meeting room. Once everyone had disappeared from in front of the house, I made my way upstairs, hoping to find a slightly less agitated Shikamaru in his room. Unfortunately, his room proved to be empty.

Where could he have gone?

I shivered as a chill breeze blew in through the open window. That's odd. I could have sworn that that window had been closed earlier. As I moved to shut it, a figure sprawled out on the frost covered ground caught my eye. I grabbed two blankets from the foot of the bed and hurried outside.

"What do you want?" Shikamaru asked, not bothering to look up as I approached.

Ouch. If I weren't already shivering from the chill in the air, his tone probably would have frozen me solid.

"I brought you a blanket," I mumbled, holding the object in question out as a peace offerings of sorts.

We stayed like that for a few moments, me shivering with arms outstretched, Shikamaru laying on the ground with his arms folded behind his head.

"You'll catch a cold if you stay out here like this," I finally said, walking over and draping the blanket across his prone form. Still nothing. I wrapped myself in the second blanket and settled myself beside him, staring up at the gray clouds.

"Sometimes, I wish I could be a cloud."

The sudden proclamation after our prolonged silence startled me out of my own reverie. "Why's that?" I asked, watching the clouds through half-lidded eyes.

"Clouds don't have a care in the world. No responsibilities, no worries. They can just float freely and see the world around them. I envy them that freedom."

"But they're trapped, too, if you think about it. Sure, they get to float all around, but they never get to settle down, even if they want to. They're forced to move from place to place without ever establishing any lasting bonds or meaningful relationships. All it takes is a gust of wind to tear them apart."

Another silence settled between us, though this one was thankfully less tense. I rolled onto my side and settled my head against his chest at the same time his arm descended to encircle my shoulder.

"You're really set on doing this?" he finally asked. His earlier confrontational tone was replaced with resignation.

I contemplated my answer for a few moments before responding. "I have to, Shikamaru. This whole time I've just been a burden to everyone. Whenever something happens, I have to rely on everyone else to rescue me. Now, I can finally do something to help. There's no way that I'm sitting back and hiding while everyone else has put themselves in danger to help me. It's my turn to do something! I'm done running away!"

Shikamaru let out a heavy sigh. "The thought of purposely putting you in danger terrifies me, Arista. What if something goes wrong? How could I live with myself knowing that I had allowed it to happen? But," he continued, before I could interject, "I know that regardless of what I say you're going to get you way in this. When it comes down to it, I'd rather be involved and do everything I can to protect you."

I craned my neck and planted a soft kiss on his jaw line. "Thank you, Shikamaru."

"But if it looks like there's any serious threat to you, anything at all, I'm pulling you. That's my call, not yours."

"Fine," I conceded, knowing that he wasn't going to brook any arguments on the matter.

That was it, then. We could proceed with the planning. It was finally time to kick some enemy shinobi butt!


	17. Chapter 17

**[A/N] We're almost there! And hey, look, I drew a picture of Arista (because, you know, that wouldn't have been appropriate 16 chapters ago...) gallery/?catpath=scraps#/d55c59x That link should work, hopefully, but if it doesn't yell at me and I'll fix it. [end A/N]**

Today was the day. And by 'the day,' I mean quite possibly the single most nerve-wracking and terrifying day of my young life. Tonight, I would be performing my first solo concert since coming to Japan. The concert was sold out and was being streamed live so that my fans (and family!) in the States could watch without having to fly halfway around the world (for a nominal fee, of course).

As if that weren't stressful enough, we were fully expecting a full-blown kidnapping attempt. What better way to nab both the girl and her priceless violin than in the middle of a hugely attended concert? Not only would they have everything they wanted in one convenient location, but it would also serve to grab immediate media attention. The mass attention focused on a high-profile abduction underneath everyone's noses would drum up enough publicity to make sure that the baddies got everything they wanted and more.

Now, you might think that it's rather silly for me to go on with the concert, knowing in advance that something terrible might happen. But, after much arguing strategizing, we had come to the conclusion that there was no better opportunity to turn the tables on our mysterious friends and end things once and for all. We had assembled a top-notch group of classmates: Choji, Naruto, Kiba, Sasuke, Temari, Tenten and, of course, Shikamaru. I had dubbed them 'The Super Amazing Ninja Wonder Squad,' but that name didn't seem to stick for some reason.

Basically, the plan was for them to keep watch for any suspicious characters and if something happens , jump to my rescue. If nothing happened, well, then at least they got to see me rocking out on the violin.

"Everything will be fine."

Shikamaru's words broke me out of my musings. We were currently sitting in the green room, listening to the steady ticking of the clock counting down the time until my eventful evening began in earnest. I snuck an upward glance as I snuggled deeper into his side. His face was taught, his eyebrows drawn close together. Even if he was incredibly stressed himself at the moment, I really appreciated the reassurance.

A soft knock sounded at the door before it swung partially open. "Ritz," my Aunt Angie's head popped around the side of the door, "Oh! And Shikamaru, too!" She gave him a quick wave, not at all bothered by the fact that we were curled up together on the couch. "Ritz," she began again, "I have a surprise for you! Guess who came to see your concert?"

Without any further introduction she ushered three people into the room in front of her. I leapt to my feet and rushed them in a blur. "Mom! Dad! Jay!" After we'd gotten the initial hugging out of our systems we finally moved away from the crowded doorway and into the spacious green room. "I didn't think you were going to be able to make it! And you even managed to drag Jay away from his basketball?"

"Seeing my baby sister's first big concert was worth missing a game, I guess," he shrugged, trying to nonchalantly play it off. He cringed a bit when I pulled him into a bear hug (I think he secretly liked it, but big brothers just can't let that kind of stuff show, you know?), and that's when things got awkward. "Ritz, who's the dude?"

Shikamaru was still sitting on the couch where I had left him, hands forming an open triangle in his lap as he seemingly zoned out. To the untrained eye, he probably looked like he was just staring off into space, but I knew that pose well enough to know better. He was probably trying to figure out just how much of a wrench my family being here was going to throw into our plans and how he could best counteract that.

Right. Shikamaru. My family. In all the excitement of the past month, I'd never gotten around to telling my family that I was currently seeing someone. I had meant to, really I had, but every time I'd thought about it, something else would pop-up and push it to the back of my mind. Being chased by crazy ninjas was known to have that effect on a girl.

Okay, so I totally made that statistic up. But it sounds believable, right?

But back to the delicate matter at hand!

"Everyone, this is Shikamaru. Shikamaru, this is my family." I took a few steps back as Shikamaru rose from his seat in preparation for whatever their reactions might be. I could see them taking in his spiky hair, pulled into a tight ponytails and the tiny silver studs glinting in his earlobes.

"Shikamaru...that name sounds familiar," my mom finally said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. My dad and brother were still too busy sizing Shikamaru up to take any notice of her musings. "Oh, I know! You're that young man I talked to ages ago that lives next door to Angie! It's so nice to finally meet you!" She enveloped him in a rather large hug while he fought the urge to grimace. That's my mom for you. Doesn't matter who the kid is, she's going to crush him in a hug.

"Ritz, hallway," my brother proclaimed before unceremoniously dragging me from the room.

"Jay, what in the world-"

"Please tell me you're not dating that guy." I leveled my best icy look at him. Stupid, over-protective brother. "Ritz, the guy looks like a punk!"

"Well he's far from it, brother dear. He's the perfect gentleman and a genius to boot! Just because you don't know him doesn't mean you need to instantly dislike him."

Silence reigned as we entered into our preferred method of settling arguments: glaring daggers at one another until someone cracked. The sound of the door opening behind us drew both of us away from the glaring match.

"Arista, I hate to intrude, but it's getting close to show time."

Jay gaped as Shikamaru stood leaning against the doorframe. Even my parents gave him a rather strange look from their spots inside.

"You call her Arista?" Jay asked, voicing the question that was sure to be foremost in my parents' minds, as well.

"Of course I do," Shikamaru said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Granted, she gave me hell for it a few times until she got used to it." Something in Jay's face seemed to change as he took that in.

"We really should go find our seats," my mom interrupted, drawing everyone out of the awkward little silence that had descended upon us. My family disappeared with another round of hugs and well-wishes.

"Parents," I sighed, once they were safely out of ear-shot.

"Tell me about it."

* * *

I took a deep breath, set my shoulders and fidgeted with my dress one last time before stepping past the wall created by the red curtain. Applause resounded throughout the hall as I strode to middle of the open stage and dipped into a low bow. The applause died out, the last of the houselights dimmed and a brilliantly bright set of lights centered on my frame. The light reflected off of the silver threading in my midnight blue dress. My hair, pinned back in long, cascading curls, swayed against my back as I settled my violin between my chin and shoulder.

From the first stroke of the bow I was lost in the music. Nothing mattered anymore. Not the obscenely large amount of people watching my every move, critiquing my technique, forming opinions about my musicianship. Not the very real potential for danger from hidden shinobi. None of it. All that mattered were the dulcet sounds coming out of this gorgeous instrument. The Paganini Caprices that I had chosen to open with erased all of the tension and fear as I lost myself in the music, body swaying in an unconscious rhythmic dance. The twenty-four caprices passed in what seemed the blink of an eye. My bow floated away from the violin in a graceful arc as the audience erupted into thunderous applause.

I bowed from the waist before raising both violin and bow once again, causing the applause to die out almost immediately in anticipation of the next piece. I lost myself once again to the haunting melodies of Bach's second Partita in d minor. My bow flew through the intricacies of the chaconne, reveling in the musical high.

Suddenly, my concentration was shattered. Something was wrong. I kept playing as my eyes scanned the audience. Several people had stood up and were moving in different directions. There was a faint thump from somewhere in the back of the room. Without warning, the room was cast into total darkness. Shouts issued from the audience as people tried to figure out what had happened. A rough tug on my hair brought me to my knees, followed quickly by something cold and sharp pressing against my throat.

A collective gasp issues from the audience as the spotlights flared back into life, illuminating my captor and I in its blinding glow.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he boomed, his evil smile evident in his voice, "I have a proposition for you."


	18. Chapter 18

**[A/N] And the magic number is 18! I'm absolutely terrible at writing endings, so please forgive me for that. Now that this story is finished, I'm going to work on finishing up my Death Note story and start a Bleach one, so stay tuned! Thanks for reading! [end A/N]**

The audience's eyes were glued to the stage, breaths held collectively as they were held in rapt attention by the man before them. I can't say I blame them. I mean, it's not like something like this happens at your average classical music concert. As for me, well...I'm not too proud to admit that I was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane force gale.

My mystery captor was still talking, but something in the audience caught my attention. Shikamaru's arm was thrown out in front of my family, presumably to keep them from doing anything reckless. As I watched them, though, the strangest thing happened. Their eyes closed and their heads drooped in a quick-coming slumber. It wasn't just happening to them, however. All throughout the audience, the same scene was being played out.

"...and if you ever want to see your precious Arista again, then..."

Several figures were moving stealthily through the sleeping audience, seeming to disappear with the blink of an eye.

My mind was racing. Was this part of our plan? Part of theirs? I had no idea. All I knew was that Shikamaru had disappeared from his seat and that I needed to buy myself some time and distract my captor.

"I'll smash it." What I had intended to come out as a forceful threat was no more than a quivering whisper. I took a deep breath and tried again. "I..I'll smash it." Stuttering. Nice. Way to sound confident, Ritz.

"What are you going on about?" he finally growled, sounding rather annoyed at being interrupted in the middle of his grand speech.

"The violin. I'll smash the violin." My hands were quivering in my lap (what kind of kidnapper leaves their victim's hands free? Seriously.). "I don't think your boss will be very happy if you back without it," I taunted.

"Why you little-!" He gave a sharp tug on my hair, forcing my eyes to meet his. "Guess what, sweetheart? I am the boss! Now you listen to me..."

His voice trailed off as he finally noticed that his audience had completely fallen asleep. The sounds of a scuffle emanating from backstage drew both of our attentions away from the snoozing concert-goers. A man dressed as an usher crashed through the wall, Kiba and a barking Akamaru hot on his heels.

"Well, girlie, it looks like we're going to have to cut our losses. A few men aren't that much of a sacrifice as long as I walk out of here with the prize." He took several steps, pulling forcefully on my hair as I struggled against him. There was the briefest sensation of something whizzing past my head before the tension on my hair suddenly went slack.

I shouted a word of thanks at a shuriken-and-kunai-chuckin' Tenten as I moved away from my captor as quickly as I could. My dress hampered my speedy escape and my captor took advantage of my fall to rapidly close the space between us. I turned and brandished my violin as a make-shift shield as he strode toward me with a...brown streamer in his hand? I didn't have long to mull over the unusual weapon choice as he was approaching at a rather brisk pace. When he was a mere hair's breadth away, he froze, only the faintest quiver of fruitless motion detectable.

A very pissed off looking Shikamaru was suddenly in front of me, a living barrier between my captor and I. The brown streamer-thing fluttered to the floor was his hands sprung to his throat, desperately clawing at the shadowy hand that had worked its way up his body.

"Look away, Arista."

I complied, Shikamaru's voice brooking no argument in the matter, and cast my eyes about for an appropriate distraction.

Ahh, that mysterious brown item!

Upon closer inspection, it proved to be a multitude of strands rather than the single streamer I had assumed. Actually, it looked an awful lot like hair. But why would he be...

My hand flew to the back of my head and raked through my hair, abruptly hitting thin air before reaching my shoulders. Well, that would explain how I had managed to get away earlier. I suppose I was due for a new hairstyle anyway...

A heavy thud broke me out of my ruminations about my hair. My unnamed assailant had dropped to the stage floor as Shikamaru swept me up in his arms. All it took was the simple act of holding me close and stroking my hair to unleash the torrent of tears that had managed to stay dammed up until now.

"It's over, Arista. It's finally over."

* * *

"What a wonderful concert!" my mother gushed. "It was so beautiful; almost like a dream!"

I suppressed my giggle as I thought back to what Shikamaru had told me. When the audience had fallen into their strange sleep, Sasuke had used his genjutsu (which Shikamaru described as a sort of illusion thing) to make the audience have a rather realistic dream of me performing the rest of my concert. When they had awoken, they were under the impression that they'd seen the entire concert they'd paid for, sans the shinobi showdown in the middle.

"So now that your concert's done," Jay interjected, "when are you coming home?"

The question took me by surprise. To be honest, the thought of going home anytime soon hadn't even occurred to me. But I could see the hopeful looks on my family's faces at the prospect of my home-coming, which might prove to be a bit of a stumbling block. "I...don't think that I'm ready to come home yet," I admitted, rubbing my arm self-consciously. "I mean, I miss you all and everyone else from home, but I can't leave. Not yet."

Jay looked like he was about to argue, but was quieted when my mom placed a hand on his arm. "We understand, dear. You just make sure you keep in touch," she said, waggling her finger. "We'll be waiting for you whenever you're ready."

"You tell that guy of yours that he better behave himself," Jay cautioned, pulling me into a final hug before being ushered out the door by my parents.

"You hear that, Shika, you better behave yourself" I teased, turning to the young man standing in the shadows.

"Tch. You're the troublesome one here," he responded, detaching himself from the wall he had been leaning against. "You're really going to stay?"

"Really." I smiled as I linked my hands with his. "Like it or not, this troublesome woman is here to stay."


End file.
